a 



f"\ 



THE 



MODERN CRUSADE; 



OR THE 



PRESENT RUSSIAN WAR: 

|ls Cause, lb Ztxmxmtxovi, nn)j ih fvesdts : 



VIEWED IN 



CONNECTION WITH SCRIPTUPiE PROPHECY. 



BY REV. WILLIAM WILSON, 

WESLETA>' MISSIOXAEY. 



" Thus saith the Lord God : Aet thou he of whom I have spoken in old 
time by ray servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days 
MANY years, that I would bring thee against them? "— Ezekiel chap. 38, v. 17. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY GEO. C. RAND, 

AND ON SALE AT METHODIST BOOK ROOM. 

HALIFAX: WESLEYAN BOOK ROOM. 

ST. JOHNS, N. B. : J. & A. McMILLEN. 
1854. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1854, by 

WILLIAM WILSON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 



Exchange 
Western Ont Univ. UbflMllr' 
Apr- 15- 1938 



George C. Rand, Printer, S Cornhill. 



o 
3 



PREFACE. 



Four weeks ago, the author had not the most 
distant idea of writing a line on the subject of the 
Russian war, that would ever meet the public eye. 

On the 13th of last month, April, he delivered a 
lecture on the subject in the Wesleyan Chapel, 
Milton ; which lecture he was afterwards requested 
to publish. 

In preparing notes for his lecture, he was for 
some time at a loss to determine upon any portion of 
Holy Scripture that seemed directly to bear upon 
the present portentous events in the East, as all the 
disquisitions on the prophecies that he had seen 
failed to satisfy his mind as to their application 
in the present instance ; and for some time he 
feared his lecture would prove a failure. 



4 PREFACE. 

In his anxiety, his attention was directed to the 
prophecy concerning ** Grog," recorded in the 38th 
and 39th chapters of the Prophet Ezekiel ; when, 
after a careful examination of the whole pas- 
sage, he saw so many striking coincidents between 
the prophecy and the events of the day that 
he was often overpowered with astonishment. 

In the conflict, on the one hand, are **Meshech" 
and ^* Tubal,'' or, as the Septuagint reads, 
'' Bosh,'' '' Meshech/' and '* Tubal,'' which can 
be no other than Russia, Muscovy, and Toholsh, 
On the other hand are '' Persia," ** Ethiopia," 
'' Lybia," '' Gomer," and '' Togarmah of the 
north quarters ; " which seems clearly to repre- 
sent, Turkey in Asia, Egypt, North Africa, 
Western Europe, and Turkey in Europe. 

The land invaded by Gog has so many particu- 
lars mentioned, that it seems scarcely possible to 
apply the text to any other country on earth 
than Turkey ; while ** Gog," the invader, is 
said to come ^^from his place out of the north 
parts, ^'^ 

The deception attempted by *' Gog," is noticed 



PREFACE. 



by the Prophet in these words : *' And thou 
shalt think an evil thought, verse 10;" margin, 
*' conceive a mischievous purpose ; '' which aston- 
ishingly depicts the duplicity under which the 
Emperor Nicholas has acted. 

The armies of "Grog," are said to be *'like 
a cloud." Eussia has the largest army of any 
nation upon earth. 

'* Gog " shall be defeated by '* an overflowing 
rain," ** and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." 
What a representation of the instruments of 
destruction which modern science has invented ! 

The place of overthrow is said to be in 
" the Yalley of the Passengers, on the east of 
the Sea ; " which, when all the particulars 
mentioned by -the Prophet are considered, it 
would be difficult to apply to any other place 
except the ** Gai^'^ or extensive rising ground, 
between the Carpathian and Oural mountains 
in the south of Eussia. 

The future of " Gog " is named ; ** I will 

turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part 

of thee." Chap. 39, v. 2. 
1* 



6 ' PREFACE. 

Eussia has made large conquests from five 
nations, and her own proper territory is the 
sixth. 

The author pretends to no prophetic knowl- 
edge on his own part ; that he utterly abomi- 
nates : but he respectfully submits what he 
thinks is a plain exposition of the sacred text; 
while the events of the war, so far, have all 
gone to prove the accuracy of his criticisms. 

As to his object, he aims at doing an humble 
share in his heavenly Master's work ; and if 
the following exposition should prove correct, then 
it will indeed be a triumph for Christianity 
that a chain of prophecies, delivered twenty-five 
centuries ago, are in our own day, and to our 
own knowledge, being fulfilled in all their 
detail. 

The following pages were compiled from the 
notes prepared for his lecture, which he now 
submits to the candid consideration of a discern- 
ing public. 

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, May 10, 1854. 



PREFACE. 7 

P. S. A very great and unexpected delay 
has taken place in the publication of this work. 

The intention was to publish it at the Wes- 
ley an Book Eoom, New York ; but a reply from 
that establishment dated May 30th was received, 
in which the publication was declined, in con- 
seq^uence of the pressure of business. 

The author was then advised to publish in 
Halifax, Noav Scotia, to which place he sent 
his manuscript early in June, where it remained 
until August ; when, finding the work was not 
yet in press, he ordered back his manuscript, 
and determined to publish in the United States. 

WILLIAM WILSON. 

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia., Sept. 1, 1853. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE INVADERS. 

Gog — Meshech — Tubal — Rosh. — Geographical Situation, 22 
CHAPTER II. 

THE COUNTRY INVADED. 

Time of the Invasion — Characteristics of the Country — 
" A Land brought back from the Sword " — " Gathered 
of many Nations" — "Against the Mountains of Israel" 
— •" Brought forth out of the Nations " — " Shall Dwell 
Safely " — Geographical Situation, 35 

CHAPTER III. 

REASON OF THE INVASION. 

The Covert Design of Gog — Protectorate of the Greek 
Church — Treaty of Kainardgi — Emperor Alexander — 
Speech of the Earl of Shaftsbury — Persecuting Charac- 
ter of Russia — Turkey — Emperor Nicholas, 51 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTERIV. 

THE OPPOSING PARTIES. 

A Parenthesis — Persia — Ethiopia — Libya — Gomer — 
Togarmah — Sheba — Dedan — Merchants of Tarshish, . 76 

CHAPTER V. 

THE CONFLICT. 

The Army of Gog — Suddenness of the Invasion — Con- 
sternation of the Nations — Extent of the War — Char- 
acter of the Combat — Defeat — Place of Discomfiture, 97 

CHAPTER YI. 

THE OVERTHROW. 

Gog shall be turned back to his own Dominions — Shall 
be deprived of his Conquests — Shall be restrained from 
future Aggression — The Effect upon the Spread of Re- 
ligion — Conclusion, 147 

APPENDIX. 
Prophecy and the Russian War, 187 



THE MODEM CRUSADE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Great efforts have been employed during 
the last half century for the diffusion of 
knowledge ; and in many instances those 
efforts have been successful to an extent 
that has utterly astonished the most san- 
guine. Steam has brought distant nations 
into proximity ; intelligence is now commu- 
nicated with the rapidity of lightning ; 
unknown regions have been explored ; the 
truth of Biblical history has been demon- 
strated by the discovered monuments of 
antiquity among the ruins of Nineveh ; 
philosophy, philology, science, and general 
literature have mightily expanded and ele- 
vated the human mind ; and the church, 
while it has not done what it ought to have 



12 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

done, yet it also has done much within the 
same period ; it has given the Bible to the 
children of men in one hundred and fifty 
languages ; it has established missions in 
every region of the earth ; the faithful and 
constant preaching of ^' Christ crucified/' 
with the religious training of the young, has 
had an obvious effect upon the present gene- 
ration. And as the results : in Christian 
countries, evangelical sentiments have pow- 
erfully prevailed and extended ; in many 
nations in the far east, idolatry has become 
antiquated ; Mohammedanism is paralyzed, 
so that it no longer presents that terrible 
front to Christianity that it formerly did ; 
the crescent and the '' great red dragon '' 
are both rapidly retiring before the standard 
of our Immanuel : nevertheless his stan- 
dard-bearers and his armies have yet to 
contend with two great opposing powers, 
both bearing the Christian name, while 
anti-christian both in doctrine and in prac- 
tice : one is Papal Rome, and the other is 
the corrupt Greek Church, as established in 
the Russian Empire. 



THE MODERN CEUSADE. 13 

The destruction of all error, and the sub- 
jugation of all nations to the sceptre of truth 
and righteousness, are the grand objects 
contemplated, and the end to be ultimately 
achieved by preaching the Gospel. 

The trials and the triumphs of the church 
were frequent themes of prophetic revela- 
tion, and Christian writers of modern times 
have given immense interest to the prophe- 
cies of old by their learned disquisitions 
thereon : inasmuch as they have shewn that 
many of those prophecies have been already 
fulfilled ; that others are fulfilling in our 
own day ; which circumstance, while it 
proves the truth of the divine records, also 
gives presumptive evidence that all other 
prophecies by the same inspired men shall 
be fulfilled in their proper time, and that all 
the purposes of Jehovah in reference to the 
universal extension of the Redeemer's king- 
dom, shall be fully accomplished. 

The rise, characteristics, and downfall of 
both the Papacy and of Mohammedanism 
were foretold by the Prophets ; and Scrip- 
ture expositors have done great service to 



14 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

the cause of truth, by their references to 
certain historical facts, as the accomplish- 
ment of prophecy ; and by the proofs they 
have given, that the predictions could be 
applied to no other event, or chain of events, 
than those which were selected. 

Writers on the prophecies have mostly 
directed their investigations to the affairs 
of the Western Church or the Papacy ; the 
corruptions and persecuting character of 
which they have shewn were foretold by the 
Prophets ; but few of them have written 
much concerning the Eastern, or the Greek 
Church; which, while not so numerous as the 
Church of Rome, is but little less corrupt. 

It is certain that the Latin and Greek 
Churches are both anti-christian, and both 
must be radically changed or entirely 
destroyed, ere pure Christianity shall uni- 
versally prevail, or the " earth shall be full 
of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea.^^ 

The most corrupt portion of the Greek 
Church is in Russia, where the Autocrat is 
the acknowledged head ; and where the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 15 

teeming millions of her population are as 
subservient to the will of that despot in 
religious, as well as in political matters, as 
were the nations of the West to the will of 
the Pope during the dark ages. 

Whatever affects Russia as a nation will 
certainly affect the Greek Church as estab- 
lished in her domains ; and, to a great 
extent, determine its future character and 
destiny. 

If the rise and fall of the empires of 
antiquity were the subject of prophecy, 
because of their connection with the church, 
and the present state of the European 
nations of the West, are described also in 
the sacred writings for the same reason, it 
might be expected that some prophetic 
representation will likewise be found there 
of the mighty empire of the North, which 
has under its direct control one-fifteenth of 
the inhabitants of our globe, and that con- 
stantly exerts all its mighty power in antag- 
onism to the spread of religious knowledge, 
and to every means that may be employed 
for the conversion of the world. 



16 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

We think Eussia is spoken of in the Bible, 
and that various minutise connected with the 
present impending war with that country 
are described by the Prophet Ezekiel. 

We select the thirty-eighth, and part of 
the thirty-ninth chapters of that Prophet's 
writings, as the basis of our remarks. 

Before presenting our views to the reader 
we would observe : 

1. That the theme of prophecy recorded 
in these two chapters is perfectly isolated ; 
that there is no prophecy anywhere else 
concerning ''' Gog or Magog: ^^ or any refer- 
ence thereto, except in Rev. 20 : 8 ; and 
possibly, also, in Rev. chap. 16 : 11, 16. 

And although, as to time, the matters 
predicted in these chapters are coeval with 
other events elsewhere predicted in the 
Book of God, yet are they a distinct series 
of events, which, to be understood, must be 
considered in the abstract. 

2. The word " Israel,'^ as it occurs in this 
prophecy, must not be restricted in its 
meaning to the Land of Judea. 

If the word "IsraeP' mean only the Land 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. ^ 17 

of Judea, what can we understand from 
chap. 38: v. 15, 16? — ''And thou shalt 
come from thy place out of the north parts, 
thou, and many people with thee, all of 
them riding upon horses, a great company, 
and a mighty army : And thou shalt come 
up against my people of Israel as a cloud to 
cover the land.^' 

Where are the '' people of Israel '^ now ? 
Are they not scattered over all nations ? 
And what are we to understand by a ^' great 
company and a mighty army^^ coming 
*' against ^^ a people that have no place 
am^ong the nations ? 

There is, indeed, an extended plain in the 
land of Palestine, called, or rather was 
called, the '' Yalley of Jezreel,'^ which is 
said to be thirty miles long and twenty 
miles wide, and which is situated on the 
'' east " of the Mediterranean Sea. It was in 
this valley " Barak ^^ discomfited Sisera ; 
here King Josiah fell fighting with Pharoah- 
nechoh ; on this plain the Assyrians, and 
the Persians of old, and in modern times, 
Saracens, the Mamelukes, the Arabs, the 

2* 



18 THE MODERN CEUSADE. 

Turks, and Christian armies, have been 
encamped : yet, does it not appear to be 
^^ the Valley of the Passengers ^^ mentioned 
chap. 39 : v. 11, where the '' mighty army of 
Gog^' shall be overthrown. That valley 
must be sought for elsewhere. 

As this prophecy refers to events that 
shall take place " in the latter years ; '^ and 
shall ^' be in the latter days,'^ v. 16 : it can- 
not be doing violence to the text, or in any 
way be contrary to the usual method of 
interpretation of the prophetic writings, to 
understand the word " Israel " here, as it 
often is to be understood, under the Gos- 
pel dispensation, not as referring exclusively 
to the Jews, but as including the whole Chris- 
tian church, or what the Apostle calls the 
" Israel of God.'' 
1 1 If this be granted, then, will the " land of 

Israel,'' verse 18, mean the land of Chris- 
tians, or Christi^i lands ; and the '' moun- 
tains of Israel," chap. 34 : 4, mean the 
" mountains of Christendom," and the " Val- 
ley of the Passengers," where the final 
conflict shall take place, will bo found in a 
Gentile country. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 19 

Commentators seem to have failed in 
their exposition of this prophecy, because 
they have generally restricted the word 
" Israel ^^ to the land of Judea. 

The learned Bishop Newton, whose '' Dis- 
sertations on the Prophecies '^ are such an 
invaluable treasure, applies this prophecy to 
*'the Turk,^' who, he says, ''is of Scythian 
extraction. He cometh forth from his place 
out of the north parts, v. 15. He shall 
come up against the people of Israel in the 
latter days, y. 16. After this return from 
captivity, v. 8. He too shall encamp upon 
the mountains of Israel, chap. 39 : 2. He 
shall also fall upon the mountains of Israel, 
and all the people that is with him, v. 4. 
There the divine judgment shall overtake 
him, chap. 38 : 22, 23, and God shall be 
magnified and sanctified in the eyes of many 
nations.'^ 

With all deference to his Lordship, we 
might ask, what can we understand by " the 
Turk ^' invading the " land of Israel, '^ when 
that land is already under his dominion ? 
With whom is the Turk to fight, and by 



20 THE MOBEEN CRUSADE. 

what power is lie to be OYerthrown ? If 
'' the Turk ^' be the invader, it will be very 
difficult to answer these questions in a satis- 
factory manner. 

The exposition given by Bagster, in his 
Philological note on chap. 38 : 16, is equally 
unsatisfactory. 

He says : " It is supposed that its fulfil- 
ment will be posterior to the conversion of 
the Jews and their restoration to their own 
land ; and that the Turks, Tartars, or Scy- 
thians, from the northern parts of Asia, per- 
haps uniting with the inhabitants of some 
more southern regions, will make war upon 
the Jews, and be cut off in the manner here 
predicted.^' 

It may strike the reader as very impro- 
bable, that after the Jews are converted, and 
restored to their own land, God should 
permit such an army as the army of " Gog ^^ 
is represented to be, to enter their land, and 
slaughter them upon their own mountains ; 
nor is there the least reason to suppose that 
the Jews will ever become a nation of such 
military power as to be able to resist and 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 21 

utterly overthrow the " mighty army '^ which 
" Gog '^ shall bring " from his place out of 
the north parts/' 

Such, however, are the popular explana- 
tions usually given of this important 
prophecy. 

Without adopting any particular theory, 
we venture to state, that in this prophecy 
there is represented, 

1. A powerful nation of invaders. 

2. A description of the invaded country. 

3. The reason or ground of invasion. 

4. The opposing parties. 

5. The conflict. 

6. The overthrow. 

These subjects we now purpose to bring 
under the consideration of the reader. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE INVADEES. 

Gog — Meshecli — Tubal — Eosh — Geogi-aphical Situation. 

EzEKiEL, chap. 38 : v. 1. *' And the word 
of the Lord came unto me, saying, 

Verse 2, '' Son of man, set thy face against 
Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of 
Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against 
him. 

Verse 3, " And say, thus saith the Lord 
God : Behold, I am against thee, Gog, the 
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 

Verse 4, " And I will turn thee back, and 
put hooks in thy jaws, and I will bring thee 
forth, and all thine army, horses and horse- 
men, all of them clothed with all sorts of 
armor, even a great company with bucklers 
and shields, all of them handling swords.'' 

A similar sentence is found, chap. 39 : 1. 
^* Therefore, son of man, prophesy against 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 23 

Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God : 
Behold, I am against thee, Gog, the chief 
prince of Meshech and Tubal. 

Verse 2, '' And I will turn thee back, and 
leave but the sixth part of thee, and will 
cause thee to come up from the north parts, 
and will bring thee upon the mountains of 
Israel. 

Verse 3, '' And I will smite thy bow out 
of thy left hand, and will cause thine 
arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 

Verse 4, " Thou shalt fall upon the moun- 
tains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and 
the people that is with thee : I will give 
thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, 
and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 

Verse 5, " Thou shalt fall upon the open 
field ; for I have spoken it^ saith the Lord 
God. 

Verse 6, '* And I will send fire on Magog, 
and among them that dwell carelessly in the 
isles ; and they shall know that I am the 
Lord. 

Verse 7, " So will I make my holy name 
known in the midst of my people Israel ; 



24 THE MODEKN CKUSADE. 

and I will not let them pollute my holy name 
any more : and the heathen shall know that 
I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.^' 

In the above texts, it is evident " Gog '^ is 
a prince or sovereign, and that " Magog,^' 
^' Meshech,'^ and " Tubal '^ are names of 
countries ; and that '^ Gog ^^ and his army 
are the invaders. 

Our first inquiry is, — Who is "Gog?'^ 
and what countries are intended by ^' Ma- 
gog,'' " Meshech,'' and " Tubal ? '' 

1. ''Magog'' was the second son of Japh- 
eth. His name occurs Gen. 10 : 2, and again, 
1 Chron. chap. 1, v. 5. 

Joseph says : " Magog founded those that 
from him were Magogites, but who are by 
the Greeks called Scythians." 

Here it is plain that the " land of Magog " 
was the same as Scythia ; and the Scythia 
of the ancients is the Tartary of our present 
Geography. 

The inhabitants of Tartary were formerly 
called " Jkfog'/i," from " Magog" ; and in that 
country there are provinces that still bear 
the names, " Lug,^^ " Mongig,^^ " Mongolia,^^ 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 25 

" Mongogia,^^ " Cangigu,^^ and " Mogul/^ all 
derived from " Magog.'' 

" Gog/' the prince, is of the " land of 
Magog/' that is, he is of Tartar origin. 

2. ^' Gog" is called "the chief prince of 
Meshech." 

Meshech was the sixth son of Japheth, 
and the brother of Magog. Gen. 10 : 2. 

Josephus tells us, " The Moscheni were 
founded by Mosoch, (or Meshech,) " now 
they are Cappadocians. There is also a 
mark of their ancient denomination still to 
be shewed ; for there is even now among 
them a city called Mazjaca, which may 
inform them that are able to understand, 
that so was the entire nation once called." 

The descendants of Meshech," or as Jose- 
phus reads it, " Mosoch," settled in the 
north-eastern angle of Asia Minor, and to 
the south of Mount Caucasus : the country 
now called " Georgia." 

In this country is a range of mountains 
formerly called " Montes Moschi," near 
which dwelt a race of people called " Mos- 
chi" or " Moschisi." 



26 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

A portion of this tribe of " Moschi " 
afterwards emigrated north ; and founded 
the Russian nation : which from " Meshech '' 
or *' Mosoch," was called " MoscovyJ^ Hence 
also is derived " Moscow J^ 

" Gog " then is of Tartar origin, and he is 
prince of Moscovy. 

3. He is also prince of ^' Tubal/' 

"Tubal'' was the fifth son of Japheth. 
Gen. 10 : 2. 

The descendants of " Tubal," according to 
Josephus, were called " Thobelites." " Me- 
shech " and '^ Tubal " are usually mentioned 
together, from which it is concluded that they 
inhabited countries joining each other. A 
tract of land a little to the west of the 
"Montes Moschi," and bordering on the 
Black Sea, is said to have been the first 
settlement of " Tubal." 

Some of the Tubalites emigrated north, 
and from " Tubal " is derived Tobolsk, and 
Tobolskie in Siberia. 

The Septuagint version of chap. 38 : v. 2, 
for, " the chief prince of Meshech and Tu- 
bal " : reads, " the chief prince of Rosh, 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 37 

Meshech, and Tubal/' The same reading 
also occurs chap. 39 : v. 1. 

This reading is of very great importance, 
inasmuch as it introduces another tribe ; the 
ancient '' Rosh,^^ or '' Rossi f and thereby 
fixes the sense of the whole passage. 

The Eiver Araxes, which discharges its 
waters into the Caspian Sea, near the for- 
tieth degree of north latitude, was called by 
the ancients '' Rosh;^^ by which name accord- 
ing to Bochart it is still known to the Arabs. 
The country near the river was also called 
" Rosh; '^ and the people inhabiting the 
country " RkossiJ^ From this the name 
^' Russia '^ is said to have been derived. 

Prom these remarks it is plain, " Gog'' is 
of Scythian origin, or of the land of '^ Ma- 
gog ; " he is prince of '' Rosk " or Russia, of 
''Meshech'' or '' Moscovy,'' and of '' TuhaV 
ov ''Tobolsk:' "Gog" is therefore the 
Emperor of Russia. 

The Scythians or Tartars have been al- 
ways a warlike people ; and certain tribes of 
them are mentioned by Herodotus, as inhab- 
iting the countries between the rivers " Bo- 



28 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

rysthenes/' and the " Tanais," that is, the 
Dnieper and the Don. 

Strabo and Tacitus mention a tribe in that 
district called " Roxolani/^ and afterwai^s 
^^ Ros/^ as highly distinguished among the 
Sarmatian tribes. 

Six hundred and sixty-three years before 
Christ, and near the time of King Josiah, a 
tribe of Scythians invaded both Syria and 
Palestine ; and in the latter country they 
seized upon the city of Bethshan, in the tribe 
of " Manasseh/^ which was in consequence 
afterwards called '^ Cythopolis,'^ or the City 
of the Scythians. 

Dean Prideaux informs us that these in- 
vaders came from the parts about the " Palm 
Meotis,^^ and passed round Mount Caucasus. 

The ^' Palus Meotis '' of the ancients is the 
Sea of Azof ; it was then some of the " Eos '^ 
tribes, that invaded Palestine at the period 
just named. 

The tribes of the " Mosocheni," " Tubal,'' 
and " Eos '' or " Ehossi,'' began to wander 
north; and as Eome declined, these wandering 
tribes began to rise into national existence. 



THE MODEBN CRUSADE. 29 

From the neighborliood of the Caucasian 
mountains, they settled first on the banks of 
the Don and the Dnieper ; but afterwards 
they journeyed farther north ; and^ still 
retaining their original names, they gave 
those names to the countries where they took 
up their final abode : Hence we have '' Mos- 
covy,'' '' Russia,'' and '' Tobolsk:' 

Tobolsk did not indeed formerly belong 
to Eussia, for the Oural mountains was her 
eastern boundary ; and south, she was 
bounded by the kingdom of Astrachan, in 
about the forty-eighth of north latitude. 

During the latter part of the sixteenth 
century, a Cossack named Yermak, passed 
the Oural mountains and discovered Siberia; 
which submitted to the Russian arms in 
1587 ; and was attached to the Russian 
dominions. 

The sovereigns of Russia then assumed 
the title of " Czar of Siberia,^^ which title 
they still retain. 

The prophet says of " Gog," he is the 
" chief prince of Tubal " ; that is, '' Tobolsk'' 
or Siberia. 



30 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Russia continued to be heathen until near 
the close of the tenth century ; when the 
Czar Vladimir demanded the sister of the 
Greek Emperor Basilicus in marriage ; which 
was granted on the condition that he should 
embrace Christianity. 

With this proposition Vladimir complied ; 
vast numbers of the people embraced Chris- 
tianity likewise ; and on the same day with 
their sovereign twenty thousand Russians 
also were baptized. 

Russia thus became Christianized by means 
of the Greek Church, and as a consequence, 
it embraced the ritual of that church ; and 
the Greek Church became the establishment 
of the empire. 

Michael Syra, was appointed the first Me- 
tropolitan ; and for a time the Russian 
Church was subject to the See of Constanti- 
nople ; but it afterwards became an inde- 
pendent church, governed by its own 
Patriarchs and Bishops : who were said, like 
the hierarchy of Rome, to be almost inde- 
pendent of the civil power. 

The Patriarch of Moscow was formerly 
almost equal in power with the Czar. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 81 

This power was however wrested from the 
Patriarch, by Peter the Great ; who sud- 
denly presented himself before the Bishops 
who in the year 1702 had assembled to elect 
a new Patriarch ; when he claimed supreme 
authority in church as in state, by his 
memorable declaration, ^^ lam your Patriarch J^ 

Russia, although she continued to extend 
her borders, and caused her power to be 
sensibly felt, yet she had made but little 
progress in the arts and in civilization, until 
the days of Peter ; who ascended the throne 
about the commencement of the last century. 

Peter was a most extraordinary person. 
He travelled through Europe in disguise, 
and worked as a mechanic in ship yards and 
rope-yards, at the forge, in saw-mills, at the 
manufactory of paper, wire-drawing, and 
other arts ; by which he acquired an exten- 
sive knowledge of men and of things, all of 
which he reduced to practical purposes. He 
built, or rather founded the present capital, 
and after his own name called it ^' Peters- 
burg " : he introduced science, law, architec- 
ture, military discipline ; formed a navy ; — 



32 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

in fact, he laid the foundation of the present 
greatness of the Eussian empire. 

Under the Czarina Catherine, Russia was 
greatly extended ; and she was the first 
sovereign who contemplated the expulsion 
of the Turks from Europe ; and the re-estab- 
lishment of the Byzantine empire, or the 
occupation of Constantinople by Russian 
forces. 

Thus has Russia continued to progress, 
until she has become by far the most ex- 
tended empire, and one of the most power- 
ful nations upon earth. 

The Russian empire extends from the Arc- 
tic Ocean, to the confines of China south ; 
and from the Baltic Sea eastward, round the 
North Pole, to the British possessions in 
North America ; covering forty-five degrees 
of latitude, and two hundred of longitude ; 
it is the greatest unbroken empire that ever 
existed ; occupying nearly one-sixth of the 
habitable globe : it is forty-one times as 
large as France, and one hundred and thirty 
eight times as large as England : the sun 
never sets upon it, for before his rays have 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 33 

left the shores of the Baltic, he has illumi- 
nated the same empire in the wilds of North 
America. 

Such is the present empire of '^ Gog ; " he 
is '' the chief prince of '' Rosh/^ or Russia ; 
" Meshech/^ or Moscovy ; and of " Tubal/^ or 
Tobolsk : and if any thing more were want- 
ing to shew the identity, it is the geographi- 
cal situation which is mentioned with such 
remarkable precision. 

In chap. 38 : 15, it is said, " And thou 
shalt come from thy place out of the north 
parts ; and in chap. 39 : 2 : " And will cause 
thee to come up from the north parts ; " 
where the margin reads, " the sides of the 
north.^^ ^\"^_ " yarech " signifies an extended line. 
Gen. 49 -'13. ^'Zebulun shall dwell at the 
haven of the sea ; and he shall he for a haven 
of ships ; and his border, "i-^i^'^ll '' we-yar- 
chatho^^^ his extended side shall be unto Zidon." 

The portion of Zebulun in the promised 
land extended from the Sea of Tiberias to the 
Mediterranean, and was at least three times 
as long from east to west as from north to 
south. 



34 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Zebulun then had " an extended north sideJ^ 

In chap. 38, " Togarmah/' is said, to be 
" of the north quarters/^ and the word in the 
original is the same; but ''border'' in 
reference to Zebulun, and '' north quarters " 
in reference to Togarmah, simply describe 
their relative situation ; while " thou shalt 
come from thy place out of the north parts " 
is emphatical, and seems clearly to refer to 
his extended longitudinal possession in the 
north. 

To this we may add, " Gog '^ means '' flat," 
" a flat roof,'' or " an extended flat ; " which is 
descriptive of Russia ; for geographers tell 
us : '' Prom Petersburg to Pekin, one shall 
hardly meet with " a mountain on the road 
through Independent Tartary ; and from 
Petersburg to the north part of France, by 
the road of Danzic, Hamburg, and Amster- 
dam, we do not perceive even the smallest 
hill." 

The reader will now be prepared to admit, 
that " Gog " is Russia, and that she is the 
invading party. 



CHAPTER I [. 

THE COUNTRY INVADED. 

Time of the Invasion — Characteristics of the Ccuutry — "A 
Land brought back from the Sword " — " Gathered of many- 
Nations " — " Against the Mountains of Israel " — " Brought 
forth out of the Nations " — " ShaU DweH Safely " — Geo- 
graphical Situation. 

The invaded country is described chap. 
38 : V. 8. 

" In the latter years thou shalt come into 
the land that is brought back from the sword, 
and is gathered out of many people, against 
the mountains of Israel, which have been 
always waste ; but it is brought forth out of 
the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of 
them." 

There is a remarkable parenthesis in this 
prophecy, which seems to have escaped the 
notice of critics generally, which, circum- 



36* THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

stance has led to a very confused method of 
explaining the text. 

It is certain the prophet was to " prophesy 
against Gog '^ and his land, and only against 
^' Go^/' and therefore the denouncement of 
the divine indignation as mentioned in this 
prophecy, must be considered as applicable 
to '' Gog ^^ and to his country only. 

" Persia,'^ '' Ethiopia," "' Lybia," " Gomer,'' 
and " Togarmah," verses 5 and 6, are not 
included in the malediction. The part they 
are to take in this awful transaction is very 
different and opposite to the part "Gog" 
will take. 

To make this plain I will put verses 5, 6, 
7, and part of the 8th verse in a parenthesis. 

Verse 3. " Thus saith the Lord God : Be- 
hold, I am against thee, Gog, the chief 
prince of Meshech and Tubal : 

4. And I will turn thee back, and put 
hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee 
forth, and all thine army, horses and horse- 
men, all of them clothed with all sorts of 
armor, even a great company with bucklers 
and shields, all of them handling swords : 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 37 

5. ( Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with 
them ; all of them with shield and helmet. 

6. Gomer and all his bands ; the house 
of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all 
his bands : and many people with thee. 

7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for 
thyself, thou, and all thy company that are 
assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard 
unto them. 

8. After many days thou shalt be vis- 
ited,) in the latter years thou shalt come 
into the land that is brought back from the 
sword, and is gathered out of many people, 
against the mountains of Israel, which have 
been always waste ; but it is brought forth 
out of the nations, and they shall dwell 
safely all of them.^' 

By observing this parenthesis, which does 
not alter one word in the text, it will at 
once be seen that the invading party is 
'' Gog ; "' and the people upon whom he pur- 
poses to vent his wrath, are " Persia, ^^ *' Ethi- 
opia " and " Libya,^^ '' Gomer " and '' Togar- 
mah : '^ while the land he shall invade is 

4 



88' THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

particularly characterized, which character- 
istics we shall examine. 

The time of the invasion must however 
be first noticed. Of this we read verse 8, 

" In the latter years thou shalt come : " 
and in verse 16 : *' It shall be in the latter 
days, and I will bring thee against my 
land.'' 

These words shew that the prophecy had 
no reference to events that were transpiring 
at the time in which the prophet himself 
lived, but to times then long posterior. The 
above phrases as used by the prophets, 
always mean the Christian dispensation ; 
and it is under that dispensation that we are 
to look for the fulfilment in the " latter 
years,'' or under the Christian dispensation 
we live ; and in the " latter days," or at a 
late period of that dispensation, (eighteen 
centuries of these '' latter years " having 
passed away,) surely then, to expect the 
accomplishment of what is here foretold 
even in our own day, is an idea that cannot 
be considered as very romantic. 

Let us calmly examine the facts, with 



THE MODERISr CRUSADE. 39 

which by recent events we have become 
familiar. 

Of the country which Gog should invade 
several particulars are noticed by the 
prophet, to which we would now direct the 
attention of the reader. 

First Characteristic. " Thou shalt come 
into the land that is brought back from 
the sword.'^ 

Many persons by this, understand the res- 
toration of the Jews to their own country. 

To this it may be replied : that while the 
restoration of the Jews is a prominent topic 
in the prophetic writings, yet this sentence 
cannot be so interpreted without straining 
it even to violence. For although the Jews 
were subdued by the " sword '^ of the 
Romans, and have suffered egregious wrongs 
in the countries of their dispersion, which 
wrongs are in many instances continued 
unto this day, yet, in no country are they 
now really slaves, and in many nations they 
enjoy equal privileges with other citizens ; it 
seems therefore scarcely admissible to call 
their restoration to Palestine, being 



40 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

'' brought back from the sword," when no 
parallel text conveying a similar sense 
can be produced ; and when the different 
phrases in the context are not in accordance 
with this exposition. 

Captivity, or the subjection of one nation 
to another, may be, and generally is, a con- 
sequence of the sword ; but if the nation or 
people so suffering, be restored to liberty, or 
to their poll ticaV standing, they are not said 
to be '^ brought back from the sword ; '^ but 
gaining their liberty, emancipation, restora- 
tion, or some synonymous term is usually 
employed to express such a change or state 
of things. 

"A land brought back from the sword," 
does not then mean a land or people who 
have themselves suffered under, or who have 
been subdued by the sword ; but a people 
who themselves have used the sword; and 
who have subjected other nations by its 
power. 

Of the Jews this is not true ; for they 
never were an aggressive people ; but con- 
quest and oppression were the most prom- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE* 41 

inent features in the former history of the 
Turkish nation. 

The ancestors of most nations of eminence, 
were the original possessors of the soil ; but 
it is otherwise with the Turks ; they are alto- 
gether an anomalous people, and intruders in 
the land they occupy. Barbarous in their 
origin, they took *^ the sword ^' and entered 
victoriously into the most enlightened king- 
doms and provinces ; they subdued and sub- 
verted ancient dynasties ; and for generations 
they continued by " the sword ^' to extend 
their power ; until their '' Sultan ^^ estab- 
lished himself in the metropolis of the 
Grecian empire ; and acquired for himself 
his present proud position among European 
potentates. 

The Turks like the Russians are of Scy- 
thian or Tartar origin. They were called 
Turks or " Turkoraans^^^ which signifies a 
'' wanderer,'^ and is derived from " Turko- 
mania,^^ a tract of land at the south-east 
extremity of the Caspian Sea, which was the 
country of their ancestors. 

The Turks, or "Turkomans," were first 

4* 



42 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

known in Europe in the seventh century, 
when Heraclius, the Glreek emperor, took 
them into his service in his war with Persia ; 
where they distinguished themselves by their 
fidelity and bravery. 

Until that time, their whole tribe had 
been heathen ; but by mixing with the Arabs 
and Saracens they were led to embrace the 
Mohammedan faith. The caliphs were pleas- 
ed with the Turks, received them as their 
guards, and formed whole armies from 
their tribes; by which they gradually acquired 
power, and soon they employed their power 
to the dethronement of the caliphs them- 
selves ; and thus originated that system of 
rapine and blood for which their history 
became so famous, and on which basis the 
Ottoman empire was afterwards erected. 

The Turks having become Mohammedans, 
were bound by their religion to make con- 
verts by the sword ; and were never want- 
ing a pretext for invading the dominions of 
the Greek emperors, and for inflicting upon 
those they conquered all kinds of torment 
and death. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 43 

On the decline of the Saracen power in 
the eleventh century, the Turks invaded and 
took possession of Palestine, which with the 
exception of the time of the crusades, they 
have held ever since. They conquered Syria, 
Asia Minor, and Egypt ; they extended their 
conquests south, to the Tigris and Euphrates, 
including the sites of Babylon, Nineveh, and 
Mesopotamia. In the middle of the four- 
teenth century, they entered Europe, took 
Constantinople in the year 1453, and there- 
with terminated the Eastern or Greek 
empire. Large conquests were made by 
them in Europe ; Greece and Bulgaria, also 
the whole north shore of the Black Sea, to 
the Sea of Azof, including the principalities 
of Wallachia and Moldavia, fell into their 
hands ; and for fifty years the Turks Avere 
the terror of all Europe, both by sea and by 
land. 

In the year 1529, they appeared before 
Vienna, where they met their first defeat, 
and here their conquests ended. 

From that time they have made no con- 
quests, nor does conquest now enter into 



44 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

their policy. The Turks have indeed ob- 
tained a national existence hv the sword : 
nor does there remain upon earth any that 
can lawfully lay claim to their vast posses- 
sions ; but they have now laid the sword by, 
and use it only defensively : they are " a land 
that is brought back from the sword J^ 

Second Characteristic, *' Gathered out of 
many people.'^ Verse 8. 

" Gog ^' was to come into " a land gathered 
out of many people. '' 

Gathered out of many people is a phrase 
that has led many persons at once to con- 
clude that the Jews are meant, who when 
they are restored will be '' gathered out of 
many nations." 

To this interpretation there is a great 
objection, as the sentence would thereby be 
both ungrammatical, and inexplicable ; for 
" gathered " does not belong to " Israel,^^ but 
to the noun '' landJ' 

The Hebrew word ri3)3jp?p ^^ mekuvbetzeth^^ is 
2i feminine participle, and does not agree with 
" Israel," which is masculine^ ^nd in another 
sentence ; but it agrees both in number and 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 45 

gender^ with the preceding noun f 1^ ^' eretz^^^ 
" land,'^ which is a noun singular and in the 
'^feminine^^ gender. It is not therefore 
"Israel/^ that is *' gathered J^ but "a land 
gathered out of many people.^' Land is here 
a *' metonymy ^^^ and is put for a nation ; and 
the phrase means : a nation that was not 
one people in its origin ; but was gathered, 
collected, and compounded of many people. 

Of the Jews this was not true ; for they 
were eminently one people ; while the Turk- 
ish empire is composed of Europeans, Asi- 
atics, and Africans ; of Turkomans, Greeks, 
Persians, Egyptians, Arabs, and many other 
tribes ; they are a motley compound ; they 
are '' gathered out of many people. ^^ 

Third Characteristic, " Against the moun- 
tains of Israel which have been always 
waste. '^ 

The proper meaning of the Hebrew par- 
ticle b:^ " a/,'' is shewn in the Lexicons to be 
" above^^^ " iqjon,^^ " over,^^ '' near." It is from 
the verb nb? '* alhe;^^ which means '' to ascend," 
" mount up," " to go or come up " in almost 
any manner. The word is sometimes ren- 



46 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

dered against, as Numbers 14 : 2 : And all 
the children of Israel murmured " a//' against 
Moses, " we-al '^ and against Aaron." Here 
the sense is upon : The children of Israel 
cast the blame of their continuing in the 
wilderness, upon Moses, and upon Aaron. 

The word " al,'' in verse 8th, if translated 
*^ upon " would remove all ambiguity, and 
make the text plain ; for certainly, the 
report does not say '' Gog '^ is coming against 
the mountains of Israel ; but against ^' a 
land " or people who are " upon " " the moun- 
tains of Israel.'^ " The mountains of Israel" 
are their locality ; and although the " moun- 
tains of Israel " are not properly theirs, for 
they were not of the race of Israel, yet 
those mountains are now their residence ; 
and the argument is not at all affected 
whether the '' mountains of Israel " be 
applied to the land of Judea, or in a more 
extended sense, to the mountains of Chris- 
tian lands ; for the Turks possess the moun- 
tains of ancient Israel ; they likewise possess 
those countries where Christianity was first 
embraced, and a portion of which continued 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 47 

entirely Christian until the sixteenth cen- 
tury 5 and moreover, one part of the empire, 
namely, Turkey in Europe, is, as to the 
great majority of the inhabitants, Christian 
to this day. 

" Which have been always waste." "^10? 
n^)2£n '' Le-charbah " " Tamid " is literally, 
continually wasted by the sword." 

How remarkably descriptive is this of the 
countries that constitute the Turkish empire. 
The first battle upon record took place on the 
plain of Sodom, the site of which is now the 
" Dead Sea," and within the Turkish domin- 
ions. Here also were fought the battles of 
Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome ; likewise 
those of the European barbarians, the Tar- 
tars, Turks and Christians. 

Turkey has been the theatre of sanguinary 
conflicts in all ages. 

Fourth Characteristic, " But it is b^-ought 
forth out of the nations." 

This sentence is allied in meaning with 
the former " gathered out of many people." 
Here they are said to be ^' brought forth " or 
born '' of the nations." It was not originally 



48 , THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

a nation, but a tribe of '^ wanderers/^ who 
by craft and cruelty obtained power, sub- 
dued provinces and kingdoms ; and each 
country as it felt the sword of these con- 
querors, gave to them their influence until 
they acquired a national existence, and 
formed themselves into an extensive empire. 

Fifth Characteristic, " And they shall 
dwell safely all of them." This is a most 
remarkable sentence, and certainly means, 
that the providence of Almighty God will 
secure the empire. I am not aware that 
anything like this is said of any other nation 
under heaven. 

It is necessary for the peace of the world 
that this anomalous nation should be pre- 
served ; and what is it that now sounds the 
clarions of war throughout the European 
continent ? Is it not the " independence of the 
Turkish empire ?" It is now an admitted 
point, that if any other people possessed 
Turkey than its present occupiers, the liber- 
ties of the world would be endangered. 

Little did the cabinets of St. James and 
of Paris think, when they took their present 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 49 

stand, that they were not only securing to 
the world great political and commercial 
interests, but were also fulfilling a great 
purpose of Jehovah, who has long since 
determined this point, and who has expressed 
his will in this matter in language very 
similar to their own : God has said '^ they 
shall dwell safely^ all of them ; " England and 
France have said : '' The integrity and inde- 
pendence of Turkey must be maintained,'^ 

Sixth Characteristic. The geographical sit- 
uation of the invaded country is mentioned, 
verse 12 : " That dwell in the midst of the 
land.'' The sea that washes the shores of 
Turkey for a great extent, is called the 
Mediterranean Sea, that is, the Mid-land Sea: 
here the people are said to " dwell in the midst 
of the landJ^ 

The country that " Gog " or Russia shall 
invade, is thus said to be, a land or nation 
that is brought back from the sword ; that 
has ceased to conquer ; a land or nation 
composed of " many people ;'' a land or 
nation that has been " brought forth out of 
the nations ;'' a land or nation that " dwell 



60 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

upon the mountains of Israel f and a land 
or people for whose security the word of Jeho- 
vah is pledged : '' They shall dwell safely all 
of them/' 

These characteristics are so remarkable, 
that while some of them may agree with the 
Jews or with some other nations, yet taken 
as a whole and in their connection, they can 
be applied to no other nation upon earth 
except Turkey. 

Turkey, therefore, is the invaded country. 



CHAPTER III. 

REASON OF THE INVASION. 

The Covert Design of Gog — Protectorate of the Greek Church 

— Treaty of Kainardgi — Emperor Alexander — Speech of 
the Earl of Shaftsbury — Persecuting Character of Russia 

— Turkey — Emperor Nicholas. 

Verse 10. '' Thus saith the Lord God : It 
shall also come to pass that at the same time 
shall things come into thy mind, and thou 
shalt think an evil thought. 

11. And thou shalt say, I will go up to 
the land of unwalled villages ; I will go to 
them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all 
of them dwelling without walls and having 
neither bars nor gates. 

12. To take a spoil and to take a prey ; 
to turn thine hand upon the desolate places 
that are now inhabited, and upon the people 
that are gathered out of the nations which 



62 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in 
the midst of the land." 

In these verses it is clearly shown that 
" Gog '^ or Russia had both a professed 
reason and a covert design by invading the 
people " that dwell in the midst of the 
land." 

The covert or real design of " Gog " is 
here particularly described ; but we first call 
the attention of the reader to his professed 
design. Did " Gog " or Russia profess any 
design by invading Turkey? If so, what 
was it ? 

Every one knows his professed motive was 
the protectorate of the Greeks in the Turk- 
ish empire ; while it is also known, that his 
real purpose was the possession of Constan- 
tinople. 

The professed reason of the invasion is 
not given, but it is evidently implied in 
these words : " It shall come to pass that 
at the same time shall things come into 
thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil 
thought." 

For think an evil thought, the margin 



THE MODERN CRUSADE, 53 

reads, '' conceive a mischievous purpose.-' The 
Hebrew, n^'n nrDtan^o f.iDirJm ^' we-chahkavta 
ma-chasheveth raali^'' is literally, " And thou 
shall think evil thinkings, '^ 

The word " raah '^ signifies to " break an 
established order of things.^' Honor and 
truth are the established order of things 
among civilized nations, and it is only by a 
strict adherence to these principles, that 
either the political, commercial or diplo- 
matic relations of different nations with 
each other can be sustained. 

" Gog ^' is here spoken of as ^' conceiving 
a mischievous purpose," or " thinking evil 
thinkings," and as thereby breaking this 
established order of things, by an act of 
duplicity in professing to other nations one 
thing, while he really purposes another and 
a different object. 

This double dealing of " Gog " is repre- 
sented in verse 13th, as being discovered, 
not indeed by the nation he purposed to 
invade, but by other nations who were 
attentively observing his conduct. 

" Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of 

5* 



54 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Tarshisli, with all the young lions thereof 
shall say unto thee, ^ Art thou come to take 
a spoil? and hast thou gathered thy com- 
pany to take a prey ? to carry away silver 
and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to 
take a great spoil.' '^ 

The interrogatories in this verse are tan^ 
tamount to positive affirmations. " Sheba 
and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish," 
are represented as seeing through the flimsy 
veil that " Gog '^ had cast over his base pur- 
poses, and as discovering his ultimate inten- 
tions ; and fearless of his might and of his 
wrath, they boldly accuse this great oppressor 
of the nations, with meditated plans and 
deep laid schemes of fraud and violence. 
" Art thou come,'' say they, ^^ to take a 
spoil ?" and '^ hast thou gathered thy com- 
pany," assembled thine armies, " to take a 
prey?" and notwithstanding thy preten- 
sions, is not thy real purpose in entering a 
comparatively defenceless land," " a land of 
unwalled villages," '' and having neither bars 
nor gates," to seize that land for thine own : 
*^ to carry away silver and gold, to take away 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 65 

cattle and goods, to take a great spoil 1" 
How exactly does the policy and present 
attitude of Russia correspond with this ! 
Russia professes to be actuated by motives 
of pure Christian benevolence, and would 
fain make the world believe that her sole 
object is to secure certain rights and immu- 
nities for the oppressed Christian subjects of 
the Ottoman Porte : motives which, if sin- 
cere, would not have been opposed, but 
would most assuredly have gained for her 
the gratitude of the whole Christian world. 
But Russia is known to be insincere, and 
that her real design is to seize Constanti- 
nople and add Turkey to her already over- 
grown and gigantic dominions. 

As what is called " the protectorate of 
the Greek Church ^' is the ostensible motive 
of the Emperor Nicholas for his present 
aggression, it will be necessary to consider 
the relation he sustains to that church, in 
order to ascertain if he be right in present- 
ing his claims ; or the Western powers of 
Europe right in the resistance they have 
offered to his claims so presented. 



56 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

The Greek Church and the Roman Catho- 
lic Church were originally one. 

In the fourth century, when Constantine 
assumed the imperial purple, he fixed his 
royal residence at Byzantium instead of 
Rome, which city he enlarged, and called 
Constantinople, which means, the City of 
Constantine. 

Rome had hitherto been the imperial city, 
and for ages had given laws to the world, 
but it now had a rival ; in consequence of 
which it began to decline, while Constanti- 
nople became the capital of the Greek 
empire. 

The Bishop of Rome had hitherto claimed 
a superiority over all other churches ; but in 
this claim the Bishop of Constantinople was 
his constant and invincible opponent. 

This rivalry between the Bishop of Rome 
and the Bishop of Constantinople, continued 
for several centuries ; but towards the close 
of the ninth century, it terminated, by a 
formal division into the Eastern, or Greek 
Church ; and the Latin, or the Western 
Church. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 57 

The Latin or Western Church, is governed 
by the Pope ; but the Greek Church is 
governed by Patriarchs : of whom, there are 
four in Turkey and Egypt ; namely, at Con- 
stantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexan- 
dria ; and there are also four Patriarchates 
in Russia : Petersburg, Kiev, Kazan and 
Tobolsk. 

The Russian Church was not the mother 
churchy but the daughter church, as she 
received her form of Christianity from Con- 
stantinople ; and she can prefer no reason- 
able claim whatever to govern the church 
from which she herself has descended. 

There has, however, in general, existed a 
good feeling between the Russian Church 
and the Greek Church of the South ; of 
whom, it is said, there are twelve millions of 
members within the Turkish empire. 

The Greek Church has suffered much 
from the tyranny of the Turks in past times. 
The Patriarch of Constantinople, although 
duly elected by the authorities of his church, 
yet could not enter upon the duties of his 
office until he had obtained the approval of 



58 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

the Sultan, which required large presents to 
effect ; and when effected, there was no 
security, for the Sultan exercised the right 
of deposition at pleasure. 
, The Greeks were, for a long time, not 
allowed to build any new churches, and 
had to pay dearly for permission to repair 
their old ones ; they were not allowed to 
have bells or steeples to their churches, and 
often had to perform religious services in 
the night ; they were not allowed to wear 
the Turkish dress ; they had to pay taxes 
from which the Turks were exempt ; and 
many other indignities and cruelties they had 
to endure ; one of the most extraordinary 
and barbarous of which was : their males, 
after fifteen years of age, had to pay a heavy 
poll tax, under the name of exemption from 
beheading. 

These persecutions have produced a feel- 
ing of deep commiseration throughout the 
Christian world on behalf of the suffering 
Greeks in Turkey ; in which feeling the Rus- 
sians had largely participated ; and they 
have, by treaties with the Turkish govern- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 59 

ment, secured many privileges to the Greek 
subjects of the empire ; for which they de- 
serve all honor. 

A misconstruction, however, of these trea- 
ties has given rise to the present war between 
Russia and Turkey. 

The present claim of the Emperor of Rus- 
sia to the ^' protectorate " of the Greek 
<]hurch in Turkey, rests on a treaty " ofper- 
petual peace and friendship ^^ between Russia 
and Turkey, signed at *' Kutschouc — Kai- 
NARDGi,'^ upon the right bank of the Danube, 
and is dated July 21, 1774. 

From this treaty we shall make the fol- 
lowing extracts : 

Article VII. '' The Sublime Porte prom- 
ises to protect constantly the Christian 
religion and its churches ; and it allows 
the ministers of the Imperial Court of 
Russia to make upon all occasions represen- 
tations, as well in favor of the new church 
at Constantinople.'^ 

Article VIII. Provides that, " Russian 
subjects shall have full liberty to visit Jeru- 
salem, and no contribution or tax shall be 



60 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

exacted from these pilgrims and travellers ; 
but they shall be provided with such pass- 
ports and firmans as are given to other 
friendly powers/' 

Article XIV. " Permission is given to the 
High Court of Russia, in addition to the 
chapel built in the minister's residence, to 
erect in one of the quarters of Galata, in 
the street called Bey Oglu, a public church 
of the Greek ritual, which shall always be 
under the protection of the ministers of 
that empire, and secure from all coercion 
and outrage." 

Article XVI. " The Porte likewise per- 
mits that, according as the circumstances of 
these two principalities (Wallachia and 
Moldavia) may require, the ministers of the 
Imperial Court of Russia, resident at Con- 
stantinople, may remonstrate in their favor, 
and he promises to listen to them with all 
the attention which is due to friendly and 
respected powers." 

Article XVII. " Russia restores the 
islands of the Archipelago to the Sublime 
Porte, and the Sublime Porte promises to 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 61 

observe religiously, with respect to the 
inhabitants of these islands, the amnesty 
stipulated in Article I : ' That the Chris- 
tian religion should not be exposed to the 
least oppression any more than its churches, 
and that no obstacle should be opposed to 
the erection or repair of them, and also, 
that the officiating ministers should neither 
be oppressed nor insulted.' " 

The reader will have observed, that in 
Article XVI. the principalities of Wallachia 
and Moldavia are particularly referred to ; 
the reason is, they are peculiarly governed. 
The area of the two principalities is about 
equal to the kingdom of Portugal. The 
inliabitants are the subjects of the Sul- 
tan ; and they are under the pj^otectiou of 
Russia : still they have governors called 
^^ Hospodars," which are chosen from among 
themselves. Those countries are a half 
neutral ground. 

It must also be stated, that Russia is the 
lawful protector of the principalities, by a 
subsequent treaty, signed at " Balta-Liman " 
in the year 1840. 

6 



62 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

In the above treaties, 1st, are secured 
certain privileges to the members of the 
Greek Church in the Turkish empire ; 2d, 
the protectorate of the principalities is 
given to Russia, but nothing further. 

Russia, ever grasping for more territory, 
because the treaty of ^^ Balta-Liman " ac- 
knowledges her as the protector of the 
principalities which border on her own 
country, she most illogically concludes she 
therefore must be the guardian of all, and 
claims the protectorate of all the Greeks in 
the Turkish empire; a demand to which 
Turkey could not succumb, without becoming 
the vassal of the Czar. 

At the commencement of the present 
quarrel, the Sultan, by a ^^ firman," granted 
to all the Christian subjects of his empire 
full religious liberty, enlarging their pre- 
vious rights and immunities, and guarantee- 
ing to them all unrestricted freedom of 
worship ; and to the Greeks, the election of 
their own patriarch, without requiring that 
the person elected should have the approval 
of their Mohammedan rulers. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 63 

The reply of the Sultan to the demand of 
Russia will set this clearly before the reader. 
It reads thus : 

" As far as regards the religious privileges 
granted to all the Christian subjects of the 
Porte, and especially to the Greeks, by the 
predecessors of the Sultan, on the mainte- 
nance of which Russia appears to have some 
doubts, not only has the Sultan, Abdul 
Medjid, never thought of withdrawing or 
restrictiiig them, but their maintenance and 
development at present, and for the future, 
have been and always will be the object of 
his constant solicitude. 

^^At the same time he cannot conclude 
any treaty with any foreign power on a 
question which exclusively belongs to the 
internal administration of the empire. To 
do so would be to saci^ijice his rights of 
sovereignty and independence ^ "^ 

The religious rights and privileges of all 
Christians in Turkey were thus secured and 
solemnly pledged ; and therefore invasion on 
that ground was absurd and unjust. 

* Reply to the ultimatum of Prince Menschiskoff. 



64 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

But the Czar, in liis " manifesto " of Feb- 
ruary 9tlij according to the Eussian calendar, 
(old style) but February 21st, according to 
our calendar, declares his purpose of a 
crusade against the Mohammedans, in which 
he dares to accuse both England and France 
with opposing Christianity^ because they 
will not unite with him in his base designs 
upon Turkey. 

His words are : 

^^ Thus England and France \i^YQ ^sided 
with the enemies of Christianity against 
Russia co?nbatti?ig for the orthodox faith. 
May the Almighty assist us to prove 
this by our deeds. With this hope, com- 
batting for our persecuted brethren, follow- 
ers of the faith of Christ, with one accord 
let all Russia exclaim, — Lord, our 
Redeemer ! whom shall we fear ? May God 
be glorified and his enemies be scattered." 

With such sentiments, and with such lan- 
guage, does this Autocrat of all " the Rus- 
sias " commence a scene of war and blood- 
shed, which is likely to be terrible beyond 
all precedent. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 65 

And what if Eu.ssia were to succeed in 
her present designs ; would the cause of 
civil liberty be thereby promoted, or the 
hope of the Christian church be raised, as 
to her extension and future triumphs ? 

Ah, no ! but judging from past facts, we 
may be satisfied that the very reverse of this 
would be the case. 

And this same Emperor Nicholas, that 
presumes to take the sacred name into his 
lips, and that appeals to the Deity to defend 
his rights, what has he done to promote the 
cause of Christianity and the liberties of 
mankind ? 

Alas ! we shall look into his history in 
vain, for instances of Christian philan- 
thropy or enlarged views of civil liberty; 
while opposition the most decided and 
cruel to the development of every 
evangelical sentiment, and every attempt 
at improvement in either the religious 
or civil condition of his subjects, have 
been constantly prominent in all his acts, 
from the day he assumed the Czarship of 
Russia until the present moment. 

6* 



66 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Alexander, the brother, and immediate 
predecessor of the Emperor Nicholas, was a 
man of enlightened judgment and liberal 
policy. He promoted the circulation of the 
sacred Scriptures very extensively in his 
own empire, and introduced improvements 
in various ways ; which, had they been car- 
ried out, would have raised all Russia from 
barbarism, and have placed her in a distin- 
guished position among civilized and enlight- 
ened nations. 

The present emperor is a man of differ- 
ent views, and from the first he determined 
to reign with despotic authority. 

He commenced his imperial reign by issu- 
ing an " ukase " against the Bible Society 
which his brother had established ; in which 
document, while the future operations of the 
Society are interdicted, his majesty, this 
boasting champion of Christianity against 
Mohammedan fanaticism, graciously condes- 
cends to give utterance to the following 
words : 

" The sale of the Holy Scriptures already 
printed in Slavonian and Russian, as also in 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 6T 

other languages in use among the inhabi- 
tants of the Russian empire^ I permit to be 
continued at the fixed jorices." 

The Earl of Shaftsbury^ in his speech in 
the House of Lords on the ninth of last 
months (March) observed : " The Emperor 
Nicholas had u?idone all the wise policy of 
the Emperor Alexander had effected for the 
promotion of Christianity." 

The same noble lord informs us : " No 
association is allowed in Russia for religious 
purposes : no printing presses for printing 
the Bible in modern Russ ; and no versions 
of the Scriptures are allowed to be imported 
into Russia^ except those that are in English, 
French; Italian and German. 

" Not a single copy of the Bible in 
modern Russ, the only language which the 
people understand, is allowed to be in circu- 
lation. This i^ forbidden under the severest 
penalties, and it is believed that not a copy 
of the Scriptures has been printed in Rus- 
sia in the language of the people since 1823. 

There are two millions of Jews in Russia, 
and the present emperor will not allow a 



68 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

single copy of the Hebrew Bible to pass his 
frontiers even for these unfortunate exiles. 

The clergy of Russia are as tyrannical as 
their master. The Moravians; for many 
yearS; had a mission among the Calmuc 
Tartars; between the Black and the Caspian 
SeaS; which they were obliged to abandon ; 
being forbidden to baptize their converts; on 
the ground of an old Russian laW; which 
enacted : ^' That no heathen under Russian 
sway; shall be converted to Christianity and 
baptized; but by the Russian clergy." 

In 1802; the Scottish Missionary Society 
began a mission in Russian Tartary; but 
were also compelled to abandon it, after 
twenty years' labor and expense. 

The Basle Missionary Society, after ten 
years' labor; resolved to leave the mission 
by orders from the Russian government. 

The London Missionary Society estab- 
lished a mission in Siberia, which was sanc- 
tioned by the Emperor Alexander, and was 
joined by several Russian missionaries ; but 
in the year 1841, after twenty years, this 
flourishing mission had likewise to be dis- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 69 

continued^ by an order from the Russian 
Synod ; the reason assigned was : " The 
mission in relation to that form of Chris- 
tianity established in the Russian empire, 
did not coincide with the views of the 
church and the government." 

An enemy foul and fatal to the circula- 
tion of the Holy Scriptures ; a destroyer of 
Christian missions ; an opposer of evan- 
gelical Christianity, and who prevents, by 
all means in his power, the extension of 
knowledge among the masses of his own 
people, as well as their elevation in both 
civil freedom and religious liberty, are the 
features most distinguished in the Emperor 
Nicholas, ever since the diadem of the 
Russian empire encircled his brow; or the 
sceptre of power was placed in his unworthy 
hands. 

Such is the man and such is the monarch 
who has drawn the sword in defence of 
'^ the orthodox faith ; " and who will now 
deluge Europe in blood, in order, as he 
basely says, to protect the rights of Chris- 
tians under Mussulman rule. 



70 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

But what of Turkey ? Is it not the same 
with her ? To this we at once answer^ no. 

Turkey has indeed cruelly oppressed and 
persecuted Christians and Christianity in 
every form in bygone years ; but her op- 
position has now ceased; and it is nothing 
to the point to say by what means that 
change has been effected. No doubt but 
the Christianity of Great Britain has had 
the influence in the councils of ^^ the Sublime 
Porte/' so as to produce this change ; but 
changed she is ; and by the providence of 
God this change will most assuredly soon 
produce a mighty influence on the moral 
aspect of the world. 

At present, throughout the Turkish domin- 
ions, Christianity is both tolerated and 
protected ; and there are now more than fifty 
places where Protestants hold public wor- 
ship under the protection of the government ; 
the Bible is freely circulated; Christians 
have equal privileges with Mohammedans ; 
and numerous facilities are now afforded in 
Turkey for spreading truth, and for exten- 
sively diffusing knowledge through that 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 71 

land so long closed to Christian enterprise 
and missionary zeal, by adherence to the 
doctrines of the false prophet. 

The declaration of the Czar that his 
motive for his present aggressive acts is the 
protection of religion, is a gross attempt at 
imposition on a credulous world. 

The impiety of the Emperor of Russia is 
referred to in chap. 39 : v. 7 : " And I will 
not let them pollute my holy name any 
more." 

" Grog/' or Russia, has long had a form of 
Christianity ; but it was corrupt ; and when 
the providence of God sent the Holy Scrip- 
tures to be circulated throughout the land, 
and a pure Christianity to be preached to 
the people, the government suppressed the 
operation of Bible Societies ; drove the 
ministers of religion from the country; 
extinguished every spark of evangelical 
light; placed itself in direct opposition to 
the spread ^of knowledge, and the teaching 
of truth; and the ^^ chief prince of Rosh, 
Meshech and Tubal " has assembled his 
legions for war, and has presumed to call 



72 THE MODERN CIIIISADE. 



upon the " Holy One of Israel " to defend 
him in his deeds of darkness and of crime. 
But his fall is at hand ; for Jehovah says : 
" I will not let them pollute my name any 
more." 

The land which " Gog " invades is said, 
verse 12th, ^^to have gotten cattle and 
goods." The word my -^ oseh " signifies 
to acquire by lawful means. ^^ Thou shalt 
think an evil thought ;" and ^^ shall turn 
thine hand upon the desolate places that 
are now inhabited " — upon ^^ a people which 
have gotten cattle and goods." '^ To take a 
spoil and to take a prey." 

" To take a spoil " means, the spoils of 
war; but to take a prey is different; it 
means ^^ to deprive of honor ;" and to 
deprive a nation of its honor, is to conquer 
and take possession of it. Of ancient 
Israel God said, 2 Kings, 24: 14: "And 
they shall become a prey and a spoil to all 
their enemies." 

Now we know that the enemies of Israel, 
particularly the Babylonians, not only rob- 
bed the temple, but they also took posses- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 73 

sion of the land, and made captives of the 
people. 

So here : Gog said in his mind, " I will 
take a spoil; and I will take a prey." I 
will conquer the land, and take possession 
thereof. 

" Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of 
Tarshish " saw his base intentions ; and they 
said unto him, ^^Art thou come to take a 
spoil ? hast thou gathered thy company to 
take a prey ? to carry away silver and gold, 
to take away cattle and goods, to take a 
great spoil ? " 

The dark designs of Eussia are brought 
out by the " secret correspondence " recently 
published. From these communications we 
learn, that Nicholas contemplated seizing 
Turkey, and tempted England to join in this 
nefarious act, by offering to her as a reward 
"Egypt and Candia." Failing in this, he 
turned to France ; and invited her to join 
him, by offering to her the Rhenish provinces 
of Prussia; and while these propositions 
were being made, the Ambassador of Russia 
at the Court of Constantinople was seeking 



74 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

to obtain for his master, by diplomacy, the 
protectorate of three-fourths of the Euro- 
pean subjects of the Porte, and all these 
matters were to be kept secret from the 
world ! 

It is doubtful if a crown ever before 
encircled a head that contained such a mass 
of systematic villainy. 

With the certain knowledge of these facts, 
we need not be surprised that such a mon- 
ster among sovereigns should be a subject 
of prophetic revelation. 

The best comment that we can present to 
the reader on verse 10 : ^^ It shall all come 
to pass, that at the same time shall things 
come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an 
evil thought," are the words of the Earl op 
Clarendon, in his speech in the House of 
Lords on ninth of last month (March). 
His Lordship said: "Under any circum- 
stances war was a grievous calamity ; but a 
religious war necessarily evoked a spirit 
which imparted energy to the worst pas- 
sions of human nature. It was wholly 
unjustifiable on the part of Eussia to mask 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 75 



% 



her aggression by religion, and invoke the 
blessing of heaven upon unrighteous deeds, 

" The educated classes in Eussia knew 
that their religion was not exposed to 
danger. It was, indeed, a remarkable fact 
that the Emperor of Russia had never 
asserted that the professoi^s of the Greek 
religion in Turkey had been deprived of 
any right guaranteed to them. 

"If the Emperor's declaration had been 
that the principalities were necessary to 
Russia, because the Danube would make a 
better boundary than the Pruth, or that the 
time had come for taking possession of 
Constantinople, or for rendering the Sultan 
a mere vassal dependent on the Czar — to 
such there might have been a response in 
Russia ; but to the cry that religion was in 
danger there was none." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE OPPOSING PAETIES. 

A Parenthesis — Persia — EtliioiDia — Libya — Gomer — To 
garmah — Slieba — Dedan — Merchants of Tarshish. 

Chap. 38^ verse 5. " Persia, Ethiopia, 
and Lybia, with, them; all of them with 
shield and helmet : 

Verse 6. " Gomer, and all his bands : the 
house of Togarmah of the north quarters 
and all his bands : and many people with 
thee. 

Verse 7. ^^ Be thou prepared, and pre- 
pare thyself, thou and all thy company that 
are assembled unto thee, and be thou a 
guard unto them. 

Verse 8. ^^ After many days thou shalt be 
visited." 

In a former chapter, we have enclosed the 
above in a parenthesis, and this paragraph 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 77 

must be read parenthetically in order to be 
understood. For " Gog " and his army 
alone are the invaders, and they alone 
shall be punished. Verse 2, '^ I am against 
thee, Grog ; " verse 3, " I will turn thee 
back, and put hooks into thy jaws ; " verse 
21, ^^I will call for a sword against him; " 
verse 22, " And I will plead against him." 
Chap 39 : 11, "I will give unto Gog a place 
of groves in Israel." But if " Gog " and 
his army are to be punished by the " sword," 
then there certainly must be some persons, 
or nations, that shall use the " sword " 
against him, and by whom the threatened 
punishment shall be inflicted; and the pro- 
phecy would be exceedingly defective if it 
did not inform us who those ministers of 
Divine Justice shall be. There is, however, 
no such chasm, for the nations by whom 
^^ Gog" shall be punished are all named, and 
that with astonishing precision. 

In chapter 38, the reader, to get a clear 
understanding of the passage, must unite 
verse the 4th, with the second sentence of 
verse the 8th, thus : verse 4, ^^ And I will 



78 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

turn tliee back/ and put hooks into thy jaws, 
and I will bring thee forth, and all thine 
army, horses and horsemen, all of them 
clothed with all sorts of armour ; even a 
great company with bucklers and shields, 
all of them handling swords, (v. 8.) In the 
latter years thou shalt come into the land 
that is brought back from the sword, and is 
gathered out of many people, against the 
mountains of Israel, which have been always 
waste ; but it is brought forth out of the 
nations, and they shall dwell safely all of 
them." 

By uniting the latter part of verse the 
8th with verse the 4th, the connection of the 
parts of the prophecy will be obvious ; for 
verse 4th informs us of the great military 
array of " Gog ; " verse the 8th, the country 
he shall invade ; verse 9, the manner of his 
invasion, " Thou shalt ascend and come like 
a storm ; " and from verse 10 to verse 13, 
the objects of his invasion. By this method 
the paragraph placed at the commencement 
of this chapter will become a parenthesis, 
and can be separately considered. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 79 

Abstracting the paragraph as aboye, we 
have brought before us, the opposing par- 
ties, and the parties by whom Gog shall be 
punished, described according to the coun- 
tries which they respectively inhabit; only, 
let it be particularly noticed, that those 
countries must not be considered according 
to their present geographical boundries, but 
as they were known in the days of the 
Prophet Ezekiel. 

1. Persia. In the time of the Prophet 
Ezekiel, " Persia " was in its greatest 
splendor. The empire of Persia then ex- 
tended from the Persian Gulf to Cythia-; 
and from India to the '^Hellespont/' or Dar» 
danelles. Of the extent of the Persian 
Empire, we may form some idea from what 
is said of it in the time of Ahasuerus, who 
sat upon the throne of Persia about sixty 
years after this prophecy was written ; for 
we read, Esther chap. 1, verse 1, ^^ Ahasuerus 
reigned from India unto Ethiopia, over an 
hundred and seven and twenty provinces.'' 

The whole of what is now called Turkey 
in Asia was then included in Persia. Per- 



80 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

sia is the first country commanded to oppose 
the march of " Gog." 

2. Ethiopia, or Gush. Ethiopia is a name 
given in the Scriptures to different countries 
peopled by the descendants of Gush, who 
was the grandson of Noah. Gen. 10, 6. 

The Cushites first settled on the Persian 
Gulf, where there is still a province called 
^^ Chuzestan." 

Prom '- Ghuzestan " they spread them- 
selves to India on the east, and to Egypt 
and Central Africa on the west. 

In later times, " Ethiopia " was the name 
usually given to the country now called 
Abyssinia, but in the days of Ezekiel it was 
used in a more extended sense. 

Herodotus mentions the Ethiopians, and 
means by that term the people of Upper 
Egypt. 

Some writers say, the Cushites, or Ethi- 
opians, were the " Shepherd Kings *' who 
in early times invaded and conquered 
Egypt, and that, after their expulsion from 
Egypt, they settled in Phenicia, Colchis on 
the Black Sea, and in Greece. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 81 

Egypt, then, is the second people com- 
manded to -^ prepare " for the invasion of 
" Gog." Every one knows that the fleets 
and armies of Egypt are already engaged 
in the conflict. 

3. Libya, or according to the margin, 
" Phut," which is the Hebrew word. 

"Phut," was the third son of Ham, and 
brother of Mizraim, whose descendants 
peopled Egypt. Gen. 10, 6. Geographers 
generally refer us to the north-west of Africa, 
including Morocco, Barbary, and Algiers, as 
the countries peopled by the posterity of 
Phut. 

"Libya" is derived from "Lehabim," who 
was the son of Mizraim, and therefore the 
nephew of "Phut." 

The descendants of " Lehabim " were 
called " Lubim," or " Lubims," and their 
country "Libya," which means "^Ae heart of 
the sea^ 

Like " Meshech " and " Tubal," " Phut," 
or " Put," and " Lubim," are sometimes men- 
tioned together, as, Nahum, chap. 3, verse 9, 
" Put and Lubim were thy helpers." 



82 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

" Lubim/' or " Libya/' was however a more 
extensive region than Phut, for it included 
the west of Egypt, and all the south shores 
of the Mediterranean Sea, to about the 
tenth degree of longitude, in which is sit- 
uated the modern Tripoli. 

Libya was called by Pliny, " Pentapoli- 
tana Regioj^ or the country of the " Five 
Cities/' because of the important cities of 
Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, ApoUonia, and 
Cyrene, all of which were within its boun- 
daries. It was called '^ Cyrenica," by 
Ptolemy, from " Cyrene," its capital. 

The Lubyms, or Libyans, were a powerful 
nation in the days of Eehoboam, who were 
sometimes in alliance with Egypt, and some- 
times with Ethiopia. See 2 Chron. chap. 
12, verse 3; also chap. 16, verse 8. 

For a time they maintained a successful 
war against the Carthagenians, but were 
subdued in the end. Libya afterwards 
passed into the hands of the Greeks, 
Romans, Saracens, and Turks. 

Libya is indeed now lost to Turkey, as 
forming a part of the Empire, yet is that 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 83 

ancient country now arming against " Gog/' 
or Russia; and from "Algeria/' the "Phuf 
of Ezekiel, France is at this moment em- 
barking her armies to engage in this terrible 
contest. 

It should be observed that Persia, Ethi- 
opia, and Libya, are not introduced as 
principals in this war, but as auxiliaries ; 
not as being themselves invaded, but as aoxn.- 
mg forward "with shield and helmet," to 
defend an invaded country. 

This is remarkable, for Constantinople, 
which is in Europe, is the spot upon which 
the Czar has fixed his eye ; while the above 
countries, situated in Asia and Africa, are 
sending succors to enable the Sultan to 
stand the shock and repel the invader. 

But the principals are immediately named : 
verse 6, " Gomer and all his bands ; the house 
of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all 
his bands ; and many people with thee. 

Verse 7, " Be thou prepared, and prepare 
for thyself, thou and all thy company that 
are assembled unto thee, and be thou a 
guard unto them. 



84 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Verse 8, "After many days thou shalt be 
visited.'' 

The principals in tms conflict as opposed 
to '^ Gog " are two. 1. " Gomer and all his 
bands." 

Gomer was the oldest son of Japheth. 
See Gen. chap 10 : 2. 

Josephus informs us, "' Gomer founded 
those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, 
(Galls); but were then called Gomerites." 

The family of " Gomer " settled in Arme- 
nia and Asia Minor ; some of whose descend- 
ants, as said by Josephus, were called 
" Galatians," or '^ Gauls." These Gauls, 
or " Gomerites," afterwards passed into 
Europe, and peopled Germany, and 
France, unto which they gave the name 
Gaul. 

These " Gomerites," as they travelled 
west, and north, gave names to different 
places, which have, with little variation, 
come down to our own times. Thus, there 
was " Umbria," in Italy ; " Cambria " was 
the ancient name of Wales ; and " Cim- 
brica " was the name of Jutland ; all which 



THE MODERIS^ CRUSADE. 85 

were derived from " Gomer/' as was also 
the modern name " Cumberland." 

" Gomer/' then, is Western Europe, in- 
cluding France and England, both of which 
nations are at this moment preparing the 
most mighty armaments, to resist the ag- 
gressive acts of the great northern tyrant, 
who is seeking to subvert the liberties of 
the world. 

The word translated " hands,^^ is 'n'^^y^, 
" Agapheyahj' is from ^yi " Nagephj' " to 
hit,^^ " smite,^ or " striksj^ as with the hand, 
a sword, or any other instrument ; and while 
the noun often means military ^^ bands,^^ or 
the corps of an army, it also means, strik- 
ing or fighting men, whether by land or 
sea. 

From this we learn that " Gomer," Eng- 
land and France, will develop all their power 
to meet this fearful event. 

As " Gomer " means Western Europe, 
different nations are certainly intended by 
that term ; still, they are represented as act- 
ing unitedly : as being one in counsel, and 
one in action : " Gomer and all his bands." 

8 



86 * THE MODERN CRUSADE. ' 

Prance and England were not in imme- 
diate danger from the recent acts of the 
Czar; those acts effected Turkey only for 
the present, however they might affect other 
nations hereafter. A prudent foresight of 
future evil, as well as a noble magnanimity 
rarely seen among governments, induced 
those two great countries to throw them- 
selves into the dispute, to take their present 
stand, and to raise up what the word of 
Jehovah assures us shall prove an impassi- 
ble barrier to that torrent of ignorance, 
oppression, and barbarism, which the north- 
ern autocrat is propelling onward through 
the earth with such fearful velocity. 

The union of France and England is the 
more remarkable as they have been for 
many centuries rival nations, and often 
deadly foes; but now their flags entwine, 
their armies are marshalled together, and 
their naval forces are bound to protect each 
others possessions in every part of the 
world. The Providence of G-od alone has 
effected this : truly '' This is the Lord's 
doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 87 

2. " Togarmali of the north quarters, and 
all his bands." 

" Togarmah " is the nation which is most 
severely to feel the wrath of " G-og; " and 
upon whom he purposed first to wreak his 
vengeance. It is therefore particularly to 
" Togarmah " that the command is given, 
verse 7, ^^Be thou prepared, and prepare 
thyself, thou, and all thy company that are 
assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard 
unto them. 

Yerse 8, '^ After many days thou shalt be 
visited." 

" Togarmah " was the third son of 
^^ Gomer." Gen. 10 : 3. Learned men are 
not agreed as to the country peopled by the 
family of " Togarmah." 

Josephus was of opinion that they settled 
in Phrygia ; Eusebius and others think they 
peopled Armenia; Bochart, Cappadocia; 
while several moderns believe Turkomania 
to have been the place of their location. 
The learned Calmet, says : " The opinion 
which places ^ Togarmah ' in Scythia and 
^ Turkomania ' seems to stand upon the 
best foundation." 



88' THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

There is certainly nothing very conflict- 
ing in these opinions, for from the most west- 
ern country, "Phrygia/' to the most eastern, 
" Turkomania," there is not much above 
twenty degrees of longitude ; and it is quite 
possible that in time, different branches of 
the family might have settled in all these 
different countries, and even on the shores 
of Europe. The text certainly intimates as 
much, for it says, ^^ Togarmah of the north 
quarters^'' which clearly implies that ^^ the 
house of Togarmah " had countries or set- 
tlements elsewhere. 

We agree with Calmet that ^^ Togarmah " 
originally settled in the country now called 
" Turkomania." 

The Turkomans were always a hardy and 
warlike race of people. One tribe of these 
Turkomans moved to the west, entered Asia 
Minor, and extended their conquests from 
the Caspian Sea to the Dardanelles, on both 
sides of the Black Sea. These are the 
Turks of the present day. Thus from 
^^ Togarmah," the grandson of Noah, comes 
Turkomania, Turkomans, and Turks. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 89 

The sentence; "the house of Togarmah 
of the north quarters " is very surprising. 
The prophet does not say that all the 
"house of Togarmah" shall be engaged 
against " Gog : " but " the house of Togar- 
QTiah of the north quarters^''' 

Constantinople is fifteen hundred miles 
west-north-ivest from Turkomania^ the coun- 
try from whence the Turks issued. 

" Togarmah of the north quarters/' or 
Turkey, is commanded to " be prepared/' 
and " prepare/' with " all his bands : " all thy 
forces both military and naval; ^^ a7id many 
people with thee : " assemble the numerous 
tribes under thy control, to thy assistance ; 
for the shock will be dreadful. 

The command to Togarmah is particular. 
"'Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself." 
"After many days thou shalt be visited." 
Thou hast had a career of conquest, in 
which thou hast subdued many countries, and 
that career has been followed by a long 
time of comparative repose ; but now "' thou 
shalt be visited by a mighty nation, who 
envies thy geographical position, and who 



90 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

shall attempt thy conquest^ and the destruc- 
tion of thy national existence. Be there- 
fore ^^ prepared " for this event; and 
"prepare for thyself/' or literally "cause 
preparation to thee^ for the armies of " Gog " 
shall inflict upon thee the most terrible 
calamities. 

The destruction of the whole Turkish 
fleet, save one ship, in the harbor of Sinope, 
will show the importance of this injunction. 

The preparation of " Togarmah " was to 
extend to all her dependencies. " Be thou 
prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and 
all thy company that are assembled unto 
thee, and be thou a guard unto them." 

^^ Be thou a guard ujito therrir The 
pronoun " them " certainly refers to the 
noun " army J'' in verse 4 : " And I will 
bring thee forth, and all thine armyT " Be 
thou a guard unto them : " 1M)?b tDjib ^Tp^. 
" we-hayiath lahem le-mishmany " And 
thou shalt be to ^Aem," i. e., the army of 
"Gog," "a guard: " that is, a ^^ watch,^^ a 
fortress, to resist his ambition. 

With what surprising exactness is this 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 91 

fulfilled! Turkey is "a guard^^ upon the 
projects of Russia; and to strengthen that 
^^ guard ^'' is the sole reason of the present 
movements in Western Europe : for it is 
now an admitted point, amounting to an 
axiom, that the existence and the independ- 
ence of Turkey is essential to the peace of 
the world. 

The same countries that are mentioned in 
verses 5 and 6, are mentioned again in 
verse 13, by other names. 

^^ Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of 
Tarshish." 

Sheba is the same as Cush or Ethiopia, 
verse 5, and described page 80. Dedan 
was the grandson of Ham. See Gen. chap. 
10, verse 7. 

There is some difference of opinion as to 
the exact place of settlement by the family 
of Dedan, but all agree that it was either 
in Syria or Mesopotamia^ both of which 
were included within the empire of Persia ; 
and Persia, as before shewn, included the 
whole of Turkey in Asia. 

Tarshish was the name of different places, 



92 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

as Tarsus in Oilicia, Tartassus in Spain, the 
modern Cadiz ; and some place supposed to 
be in the East Indies, where the ships of 
Solomon traded; besides which, Tarshish 
sometimes means the sea; and the phrase 
" ships of Tarshish ^' means ^^ ships of the 
sea,^^ or large ships, able to bear a long 
voyage on the ocean ; as contra-distinguished 
from small craft which traded on the rivers 
or along their coasts. 

" The merchants of Tarshish," are mer- 
chants of the sea : or men who trade with 
foreign countries, and whose ships traverse 
the ocean. 

It was the " merchants of Tarshish '^ who 
said unto " G-og : " " Art thou come to take 
spoil." " The merchants of Tarshish " cer- 
tainly denotes some great co^nmercial power, 
who owns a large mercantile marine. 

Great Britain is such a power, and to no 
country upon earth can this text apply so 
forcibly as to her. She has been designated 
a nation of merchants, and her ^^ merchant 
princes " are a proverb. 

Another remarkable phrase occurs in this 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 93 

verse : it is " the young lions." " The mer- 
chants of Tarshish with all the young lions 
thereof." Does not this refer to '^ the 
royal arms of Britain ; " or to the national 
emblems which she bears aloft in her 
standard ? 

In Daniel, chap. 8, the empire of the 
Greeks is represented by a " he-goat ; " 
because it was the national military stand- 
ard of the Grecian monarchy ; and in Rev. 
chap. 12, verse 3, Heathen Eome is repre- 
sented by " a great red dragon ; " because, 
in the times of the Roman empire, " the 
dragon " was next to the eagle the principal 
standard of the armies ; so the rampant lion 
is the principal figure in the British stand- 
ard ; the " British Lio7i " means the British 
Empire ; and it will, perhaps, be difficult to 
find a better explanation of the sentence, 
^^ the merchants of Tarshish, with all the 
young lions thereof," than to apply it to 
Great Britain in her national and her politi- 
cal character. 

Great Britain, in conjunction with Prance, 
discovered in the first movements of Russia 



94 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

her design upon Turkey, and both nations 
immediately opposed them. 

The mission of Prince Menchikoff last 
year to Constantinople was professedly to 
settle a question respecting " the holy 
places " in Jerusalem ; to which the powers 
of Europe not only would not raise the least 
objection, but used all their influence in its 
favor. 

A claim for the protectorate of the whole 
Greek Church in Turkey immediately fol- 
lowed the question of the holy places ; a 
claim which, if acceded to, would have given 
to Russia sovereign authority over a large 
portion of the Turkish empire. 

This object was concealed by Russia from 
the ministers of Prance and England ; but 
was soon suspected and explanations were 
demanded. 

To this deceitful diplomacy of Russia, the 
prophet seems to refer in verse 13 : " Sheba 
and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, 
with all the young lions thereof, shall say 
unto thee. Art thou come to take a spoil ? 
hast thou gathered thy company to take a 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 95 

prey ? to carry away silver and gold, to take 
away cattle and goods, to take a great 
spoil ? " 

" Gog/' or Eussia, made no satisfactory 
reply to the interrogatories of France and 
England; but marched her armies across 
the Pruth, and took possession of the 
principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. 

It was then, that the '^ merchants of Tar- 
shish, and all the young lions thereof/' satis- 
fied that the pretensions of Russia were 
deceptive, proceeded to order their fleets 
into the neighborhood of the Dardanelles, 
to prevent Russia from suddenly coming 
upon Constantinople to " take a spoil," and 
to take a prey. 

Negociations were still carried on, and 
every means were employed to prevent the 
calamities of war; but all to no purpose. 
Russia, foiled in her base purposes, became 
furious ; her emperor has kindled up the 
flame of war ; a flame which must now rage 
to a fearful extent, and which can only be 
quenched with streams of human blood ; but 
when quenched, the result will be the cur- 



96 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

tailment of the colossal and still increasing 
power of Russia ; civil and religious liberty 
will be secured to the nations; and new 
facilities will be afforded for the spread of 
right principles ; for the circulation of the 
Holy Scriptures ; and for the conversion of 
the world to the faith of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CONFLICT. 

The Army of Gog — Suddenness of the Invasion — Conster- 
nation of the Nations — Extent of the War — Character of 
the Combat — Defeat — Place of Discomfiture. 

The army of Gog. Chap. 38, verse 3: 
'^ Thus saith the Lord God : Behold, I am 
against thee, Gog, the chief prince of 
Meshech and Tubal." Yerse 4: "And I 
will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy 
jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all 
thine army, horses and horsemen, all of 
them clothed with all sorts of armory even a 
great company with bucklers and shields, 
all of them handling swords." 

The " horses and horsemen " in the army 
of Gog are here particularly noticed; it 
therefore must refer to some nation that has 
a great cavalry force : and what nation can 
vie with Russia in the strength of her 



98 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

cavalry ? The cavalry of the standing army 
of Russia; including her irregular cavalry, is 
said to be 223,000 ; besides 47,000 artillery. 
The Cossacks from the banks of the Don 
have long been famed for their military 
exploits. 

The italics in verse 4 make it absurd ; for 
they could not ''all of them^^ be "clothed 
with all sorts of armor.^^ 

The sentence, tDA>3 bibistD *^!D^b " lehusha 
michlal chullom " is, literally, " clothed com- 
pletely all of them.^^ That is, all his army 
were completely equipped for war. 

The multitude of the army is described. 

Verse 9. " Thou shalt be like a cloud to 
cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and 
many people with thee." 

Verse 15. "And thou shalt come from 
thy place out of the north parts, thou, and 
many people with thee, all of them riding 
upon horses, a great company, and a mighty 
army: 

Verse 16. "And thou shalt come up 
against my people of Israel as a cloud to 
cover the land." 



THE MODERN CRUSADE, 99 

These texts shew, that in the army of 
Gog there should be an immense military 
array; and can therefore be applied only to 
some nation that is a great military 
power. 

Several continental nations possess very 
large armies; but no nation on earth in 
these " latter days " possesses an army that 
in point of number will bear any comparison 
with the armies of Russia. 

The armies of Russia are truly pro- 
digious ! 

The following statement of her standing 
army in the year 1822, is given in the 
British Cyclopaedia; under the article Russia. 

Infantry, 613,000 

Cavalry, 118,000 

Irregular Cavalry, 105,000 

Artillery, 47,000 

In Garrison, 77,000 

Supernumeraries, 27,000 

Army in Poland, 50,000 

Total, 1,037,000 



100 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

One million and thirty-seven thousand 
men. 

The Russian subjects include eighty 
tribeS; and speak forty languages. 

The present strength of the Russian army 
is not positively known; but by an imperial 
" ukase/' issued by the Emperor Nicholas, 
and dated Petersburg, Feb. 10, the army 
was ordered to be increased by a levy 
of nine m^en on every thousand souls 
throughout the western government of the 
empire; to commence on the first day of 
March, and to be finished by the fifteenth 
day of April. 

It should be observed, that the draught 
of men is not of the male population of a 
certain age, but of the whole population. 
Women and children are included in the 
estimate of population, and according to 
their aggregate, they must supply recruits 
for the army as above stated ; and as an act 
of persecution, the Jews are required to 
furnish ten men for every thousand souls. 
It is computed that this levy will raise from 
270,000 to 300,000 men. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 101 

At the last interview the British and 
French Ambassadors had with the Czar, he is 
reported to have said : ^^ If it is war they (the 
governments of England and France) want, 
they shall have it. I will begin it with one 
million of soldiers ; I will have two, if I am 
mily forced a little ; and three , if driven to 
any extremity P 

Of the preparations of Russia for the 
coming conflict, it is said, both the fleet and 
the army are being supplied on a colossal 
scale. Projectiles to the amount of 900,000 
lbs. are to be sent to Tagonrog. The best 
troops have been marched to- the sea-ports ; 
where immense quantities of munitions of 
war are being accumulated ; and if a collision 
takes place, which now seems certain, it 
will be decisive and terrible in the ex- 
treme, as Russia is displaying all her re- 
sources."^ 

Truly, the army of ^^ Grog," his ^^ horses " 
and " horsemen," " are completely clothed 
all of them.'' 



* This written before war was declared with Russia. 
9* 



102 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

2. The suddenness of the invasion. 
Verse 9. ^^ Thou shalt ascend and come 
like a storm." 

14. ^^ Therefore, son of man, prophesy 
and say unto Gog: Thus saith the Lord 
God : In that day when my people of Israel 
dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it ? 

15. " And thou shalt come from thy place 
out of the north parts, thou, and many 
people with thee, all of them riding upon 
horses, a great company, and a mighty 
army." 

These texts shew the very great diffi- 
culty, if not -the positive absurdity, of 
restricting the term " Israel " to the Jewish 
nation. 

For, 1. What could be the utility of 
assembling such a ^^ mighty army," almost 
countless as the aqueous particles of a 
cloud, to conquer a small country like Pales- 
tine, which does not contain so much land 
as the principalities of Moldavia and Wal- 
lachia, and perhaps never had more inhab- 
itants. 

2» Although there is a strong intimation 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 103 

that Grog should possess a navy, yet there 
is nothing that would lead us to suppose 
that his navy would be employed in this 
act of aggression. It is the army of Gog, 
"his horses and horsemen/' that are "like a 
cloud to cover the land;" that are to "go 
up to the land of unwalled villages ; " and 
that " shall fall upon the mountains of 
Israel." 

3. There is not the least hint in any part 
of the prophecy, that " Gog " will march his 
army through any other land to the country 
he purposes to invade : what the prophet 
calls .the "land of Israel" is the sole 
object of his attack. If then, a navy is not 
to be employed, nor any other country to 
be passed, how is it possible for Russia, or 
any other great northern nation^ to throw a 
mighty army into the land of Judea ? 

When these things are taken into consid- 
eration, there will appear a necessity for 
extending the meaning of the word " Israel " 
beyond the land of the Jews ; and if the 
meaning of the word is to be extended 
in order to understand the prophecy, then 



104 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

we leave it to the judgment of the candid 
reader, whether " Israel " does not here 
signify the Christian church; and that the 
land which '^ Gog " shall inyade, is not pro- 
perly the land of the Jews, but a country 
which however it may now be overspread 
with the abominable doctrines of the false 
prophet, was, nevertheless, really and truly 
the birth-place of Christianity. 

The invasion shall be sudden, and in time 
of peace. 

When Russia made her demand upon 
Turkey for the " protectorate " of twelve 
millions of Turkish subjects, and threw her 
armies across the ^^ Pruth " in order to gain 
her object, peace prevailed throughout all 
Europe ; and when Turkey refused the 
unjust demands of Russia, the Emperor 
Nicholas issued his first belligerent mani- 
festo. It is dated Peterhofif, June 26, 1853, 
and reads as follows : 

" It is known to our faithful subjects that 
the defence of our faith has always been the 
sacred duty of our ancestors. 

^^ From the day it pleased the Almighty 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 105 

to place me on the throne of our fathers, the 
maintenance of the holy obligations, with 
which it is inseparably connected, has been 
the object of our constant care and atten- 
tion; these, acting on the ground-work of 
the famous treaty of Kainardgij'^ which 
subsequent solemn treaties with the Otto- 
man Porte have fully confirmed, have ever 
been directed towards upholding the rights 
of our church. 

" All our efforts to prevent the Porte from 
continuing in this course proved fruitless, 
and even the oath of the Sultan himself 
solemnly given to us, was soon perfidiously 
broken. 

" Having exhausted all means of convic- 
tion, and having in vain tried all the means 
by which our just claims could be peaceably 
adjusted, we have deemed it indispensable to 
move our armies into the provinces on the 
Danube, in order that the Porte may see to 
what her stubbornness may lead. 

^^ But even now, we have no intention of 

^ Sec page 59. 



106 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

commeiicmg war; in occupying these pro- 
vinces, we wish to hold a sufficient pledge to 
guarantee for ourselves the reestablishment 
of our rights under any circumstances what- 
ever. 

^^ We do not seek for conquests. Russia 
does not require them. We seek the justi- 
fication of those rights which have been so 
openly violated. 

'' We are still ready to stop the move- 
ments of our troops, if the Ottoman Porte 
will bind itself to observe solemnly the invi- 
olability of the orthodox church, 

'^ But if, through stubbornness and blind- 
ness, it desires the contrary, then calling 
God to our aid, we shall leave Him to 
decide between us, and with full assurance 
in the arm of the Almighty, we shall go 
forth to fight for the orthodox faith ^ 

We have given this manifesto, that the 
reader may have before him the Czar's own 
statement of the case. 

It will be observed in the above docu- 
ment, that the Czar accuses the Sultan with 
'^ perfidiously''^ breaking ^^ his oath solemnly 



THE MODERN CKUSADE. 107 

given ; and with open violation of rights ; 
charges which, if true, would certainly justi- 
fy Russia for assuming her present attitude ; 
but they are not true. Turkey, in the 
present case has " broken no oath ; has 
violated no rights ; " and it is remarkable 
that the Czar, in his " manifesto," does not 
refer to one instance of such violation ; but 
demands redress for grievances which he 
makes no attempt to prove ever existed. 

But why do we seek for motives ? The 
Czar avows them. He says his object is, 
^'upholding the rights of our church ; " and 
^' we shall go forth to fight for the orthodox 
faith:' 

The Czar, then, has suffered no wrong or 
dishonor from the Sultan, and the present 
war is solely to propagate the doctrines of 
what he calls the " orthodox faith ; " that is, 
the corrupt Greek Church in Russia, of 
which he is the head. It is, then, a regular 
crusade. 

At the issuing of this manifesto, did 
" Gog " ^^ come forth from his place out of 
the north parts:" and like a storm he 



108 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

entered a land that was at peace with him ; 
the inhabitants of which were dwelling 
" safely." 

The storm-like character of this invasion 
was apparent in the recorded fact; that 
'^ two Russian corps^ by a concerted and 
rapid operation^ crossed the Prutli in 
distinct places. At Skouhanie for the occu- 
pation of Moldavia; and at Leova for the 
occupation of Wallachia. 

The Emperor of France, in his speech at 
the opening of the Legislative Session, on 
the second of March, has taken particular 
notice of this fact. In addressing that 
body the emperor said : " We have, in fact, 
beheld in the east, in the midst of profound 
peace, a sovereign exact suddenly^ from his 
weaker neighbor, new advantages, and 
because he did not obtain them, invade two 
of his provinces." 

The emperor's words are an excellent 
comment upon verse 9 : ^^ Thou shalt ascend 
and come like a storm ; " also, upon verse 
14: ^^When my people of Israel dwelleth 
safely, shalt thou not know it ? " 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 109 

3. The consternation of the nations. 

This is shewn verse 19 : " Surely in that 
day there shall be a great shaking in the 
land of Israel : 

Verse 20. " So that the fishes of the sea^ 
and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of 
the field; and all creeping things that creep 
upon the earth, and all the men that are upon 
the face of the earth, shall shake at my pre- 
sence, and the mountains shall be thrown 
down, and the steep places shall fall, and 
every wall shall fall to the ground." 

The approach of the army of " Gog " shall 
strike terror into every mind, which is here 
represented by a beautiful allegory, in 
which fishes, birds, beasts and creeping 
things are said to shake, and mountains to 
fall. 

It is doubtful if any war since the world 
was, has produced such a general consterna- 
tion, and such extensive preparations among 
the nations as the terrible conflict now about 
to commence. 

Russia is in a fearful state of excitement, 
and the Russian government are taking hold 

10 



110 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

of the religious prejudices of the people ; 
and employing every means in their power 
to raise that excitement to positive frenzy. 

In the streets of Russian cities proces- 
sions are daily seen, where the Greek cross 
is paraded through the streets, as the sancti- 
fying symbol of the present war; the relics 
of the saints of the Greek calendar are 
exhibited to the multitude ; who view them 
with devotion, and show their willingness to 
shed their blood in defence of a religion that 
can give so many proofs of its divine 
authority as these relics present. As these 
processions move on, the people are every- 
where heard to vociferate, " Orthodox faithj' 
^^ Holy Russiaj^ ''Holy Confidence/^ and 
phrases of similar import. Texts from the 
Holy Scriptures are selected, and mixed up 
with jargon of fashionable saloons. The 
emperor is said to lead in these proceedings 
to an extent that makes him ridiculous. 

It is reported, that the emperor recently 
delivered an address which closed as fol- 
lows: ^^Eussia, whose destinies God has 
especially entrusted to me, is menaced ; but 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. Ill 

WO, WO to those who menace us. We shall 
know how to defend the honor of the Rus- 
sian name, and the inviolability of our fron- 
tier. Following in the path of my prede- 
cessors ; faithful, like them, to the orthodox 
faith ; after having invoked, like them, the 
aid of the Almighty God, we shall await 
our enemies with a firm foot, from what side 
soever they may come, persuaded that our 
ancient device : ^ The faith, the Czar, and 
the country J will open to us, as it ever has 
done, the path of victory." 

By means like these are the passions of 
the people wrought upon, and every effort 
is employed to rouse all Russia to a crusade 
— not only against Mohammedans, but also 
against every form of Christianity, except 
the Greek Church. 

How analogous to each other are the 
Crusades of 1696 and 1854. The former 
was set on foot by an insignificant Papist 
hermit ; the latter by an imperial monarch. 
Peter the Hermit harangued the multitudes 
in the principal cities of Europe, who were 
the ignorant dupes of a Popish priesthood: 



112 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Nicholas the Emperor, harangues a people 
for the most part equally ignorant, and who 
are the dupes of a besotted Greek priest- 
hood. In both cases the cross is the sym- 
bol of the combatants. Peter succeeded to 
a vast extent. Sovereigns headed armies ; 
men of all ranks flew to arms in defence of 
their Christian brethren in Palestine, who 
were suffering under Turkish barbarity; 
dense masses of human beings assembled, 
and marched forth to battle ; and as a cer- 
tain writer observes, " all Europe, torn from 
its foundations, seemed ready to precipitate 
itself upon Asia ; " they engaged in the most 
terrific wars, and perpetrated every act of 
rapine, perfidy, and immorality, of which the 
human mind is capable, and all this was 
done in the face of the heathen, and to 
prove the truth of a religion which came 
from heaven, whose sovereign is the "Prince 
of Peace," and whose motto is "Holiness 
to the Lord." So Nicholas, in singular imi- 
tation of his prototype, is now exciting his 
masses to similar deeds of darkness, for 
what he calls "the orthodox faith;" and 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 118 

against the same people^ the Turks ; with 
this difference; that at the time of Peter's 
crusade the Christians were cruelly op- 
pressed; but now, in the time of Nicholas's 
crusadC; Christians in the Turkish dominions 
enjoy complete religious liberty. 

The numerous armies and powerful navies 
of Russia^ known to be armed purposely for 
invasion and conquest, have produced a cor- 
responding excitement among the people 
upon whom he intended to pour his indigna- 
tion. Hence Russian fanaticism produces 
Turkish fanaticism, and the people of both 
countries are goaded on to madness. And 
the nations of the west, who do not partici- 
pate in the fanaticism of either, yet aware 
that the northern autocrat has intentions 
not only to annex Turkey to his empire, 
but also to lay the world at his feet, have 
been aroused to resistance, and all Europe 
is preparing for the coming struggle. 

Powerful as is the British navy, and 
invincible as they have hitherto been, they 
seem inferior in number to the Russian fleet. 
Sir Charles Napier, the. Admiral of the 

10* 



114 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

British Baltic fleet^ at a banquet given to 
him on the 7th of March, on his appointment 
to his present post of honor and danger, 
spoke as follows : 

" We have now enormous line-of-battle 
ships that with the screw will face wind, 
tide, and every element. With this force, 
then, that we have, although it is not equal 
to the Russian force^ I believe that by the 
assistance of the screw we shall be able to 
attack a very superior force ; and I have not 
the slightest doubt when we do that, that 
every sailor and officer in our fleet will 
remember the words of Lord Nelson, that 
England expects every man to do his duty." 

The Russian fleet must be tremendous, 
when the British fleet is not equal to it. 

No one for one moment would suspect 
Sir Charles Napier of anything like coward- 
ice, for he certainly is one of the noblest and 
boldest men of the age; yet even he seemed 
agitated at the awful prospect that was 
before him. 

On the 11th of March, an address was 
presented to him by the corporation of 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 115 

Portsmouth, just before lie embarked to 
take command of the Baltic fleet, said to be 
the most magnificent fleet that ever left the 
British shores. In reply to that address. 
Sir Charles said: 

^^ We are going to meet no common 
enewjy ; we are going to m^eet one well pre- 
pared, I am sure every officer and man in 
the fleet will do his duty well and thorough- 
ly; but at the same time you must not 
expect too much. It is well equipped, and 
efficient, but it is newly formed, and such 
changes have taken place in nautical mat- 
ters that it is impossible to say how much 
or how little may be achieved. The system 
of warfare is entirely new, and the introduc- 
tion of steam also materially alters the tac- 
tics of war. I can however assure you 
that I will — and I know the officers and 
crews with me will — do everything in my 
power to uphold the honor of my country 
and its navy." 

These facts will explain verse 19 : " Surely 
in that day there shall be a great shaking in 
the land of Israel." 



118 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

4. The extent of the war. 

Verse 18. ^- And it shall come to pass at 
the same time when Gog shall come against 
the land of Israel, saith the Lord G-od, that 
my fury shall come up in my face." 

Verse 21. ^^And I will call for a sword 
against him throughout all my mountains, 
saith the Lord God : every man's sword 
shall be against his brother." 

Here a figure is employed called an 
^^ anthropopathyj^ by which the parts and 
passions of men are ascribed to Deity, a 
figure often employed in the Holy Scrip- 
tures. 

Violent passions will redden the counte- 
nance, and heat the nostrils of a man; so, 
speaking after the manner of men, Jehovah 
is said to have his ^^fury come in his face," 
and to speak in the ''fire "of his " wrath ; " 
and under the influence of his righteous 
anger, he calls for a " sword throughout all 
his mountains," against Gog and his hosts. 

It is remarkable that Jehovah does not 
call for " a sword " against " Gog," until he 
had come up into the land : but, at the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 117 

^' same time when Gog shall come against 
the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that 
my fury shall come up in my face.'^ 

Coincident with this part of the prophecy, 
have been all the proceedings of the West- 
ern Powers of Europe. TsTegotiation alone 
was employed by their cabinets for the 
arrangement of affairs between Russia and 
Turkey, until the former power began to 
assemble her forces on the Turkish frontier, 
and threatened the latter power with inva- 
sion; it was only then that England and 
France thought of offering any armed resist- 
ance to the demands of Russia. 

It was on the 31st of May, that Turkey 
was officially threatened with invasion, by a 
note from Count Nesselrode, to Rechid 
Pacha ; and it was on the 2d of June that 
orders were sent to the British Admiral 
commanding in the Mediterranean, to pro- 
ceed to the neicrhborhood of the Darda- 
nelles, to prevent Russia from suddenly 
seizing upon Constantinople. France also 
moved her fleets in unison with Great 
Britain. 



118 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Thus at the " same time " that " Gog '' 
came ^^ up into the land, i, e. : invaded the 
Principalities, did the Lord God call for 
" a sword against him." 

War with Eussia, on the part of Great 
Britain, has now been declared; and in the 
" Declaration of War " by the Queen of Eng- 
land, occurs a paragraph which we think 
will explain the text under consideration. 

Her Majesty says : " So long as the nego- 
tiation bore an amicable character, Her 
Majesty refrained from any demonstration 
of force. But when, in addition to the 
assemblage of large military forces on the 
frontier of Turkey, the Ambassador of Rus- 
sia intimated that serious consequences 
would ensue from the refusal of the Sultan 
to comply with unwarrantable demands, her 
Majesty deemed it right, in conjunction with 
the Emperor of the French, to give an un- 
questionable proof of her determination to 
support the sovereign rights of the Sultan." 

The first Angio-Erench fleet sent to the 
Dardanelles, consisted of seventeen British 
ships, and twelve French ships, conveying 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 119 

collectively one thousand six hundred and 
sixteen guns. 

The Czar, who has long been contemplat- 
ing, and preparing for this onslaught, was 
not thus to be overawed, but proceeded 
exactly as described by the prophet. 

Verse 10. ^' It shall also come to pass, 
that at the same time shall things come into 
thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil 
thought;" margin, '^ thou shalt conceive a 
mischievous purposed 

Yerse 11. ^^ And thou shalt say, I will go 
up to the land of unwalled villages ; I will 
go to them that are at rest, and dwell safe- 
ly, (margin, "confidently;") all of them 
dwelling without walls, and having neither 
bars nor gates, 

Yerse 12. " To take a spoil, and take a 
prey; " margin, " to spoil the spoil, and to 
prey the prey^ 

It had now become a matter both of 
policy and of interest on the part of the 
European nations, to check the ambitious 
and oppressive designs of Russia. Most 
unexpectedly did those rival nations, Eng- 



120 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

land and France, become one : both nations 
increased their navies, and recruited their 
armies; not as formerly, to oppose each 
other, but to stand or fall together in resist- 
ing the '^ mischievous purpose " of " Gog/' 
the dangerous tyrant of the north. 

The first army Great Britain sends to 
engage in this awful conflict, consists of 
thirty thousand men ; and the battalions of 
France, to more than double that number, 
are also proceeding to the East. A British 
fleet has just sailed for the Baltic, con- 
sisting of twenty-seven ships, which is to 
be followed by twenty-one more : making 
a total of forty-eight British ships, with 
two thousand two hundred and ninety-eight 
guns, and twenty thousand men, which arma- 
ment is to be still further increased, and 
also to be joined by a French fleet. 

The nations in Central and Northern 
Europe are arming ; expecting in some way 
or other to be involved in the struggle. 

Austria is armed, but she vacillates ; she 
fears to offend Russia, as in many respects 
she has been one with her in action ; on the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 121 

other, hand; she fears the Western powers, 
because she has cruelly oppressed Hungary, 
and has joined in the ^^ spoiling " of Poland. 
She has, however, marched 200,000 men to 
her southern frontier, and she will soon be 
engaged in the struggle, and most probably 
on the side of the Western powers. 

Prussia is armed, and so far she is neu- 
tral; but her neutrality cannot continue. 
With Austria and the Western powers she 
must join. 

Sweden and Denmark are also armed, and 
they are both in principle opposed to Russia, 
particularly Sweden, whom Russia has 
deprived of a large portion of territory. 
These powers will most likely unite against 
the common foe. 

Persia is likewise armed, and at the first 
favorable opportunity she will raise her arm 
against Russia, to recover Daghestan, and 
other portions of territory of which she has 
been deprived by the oppressor of nations. 

All over the south, as well as in the 

north, the trumpets of war are sounding; 

over the plains of the ancient Shinar ; down 
11 



122 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

the banks of the Tigris and the JEuphrates ; 
over the countries of Syria, Palestine and 
Egypt, as well as the summits and dells of 
the Circassian mountains, and the north of 
Africa, is the alarm of war heard ; and all 
are preparing for this dreadful event. Never 
was a war so extensive before, and never 
did the nations before so combine, and so 
develop their resources for one common 
object; as according to this prophecy will 
be the case, in this present war. 

The political governments of nations see 
it as a matter of necessity to their own 
existence to resist the further encroachment 
of the northern colossus ; God in his wis- 
dom and in his judgment has seen her 
impiety as a nation ; her rejection of evan- 
gelical truth; the exclusion of knowledge 
from her people; her corrupt hierarchy; 
her blasphemous profanation of God's holy 
name, by making the cross of a dying 
Saviour a banner of war, and " orthodox 
faith " a watchword of oppression and bar- 
barism; yea, by her past crimes as well as 
by her conception of future " mischievous " 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 123 

purposes to the church and to the world, 
has the tyrant provoked the " Holy One of 
Israel : " " his fury has come up in his face ; " 
and now will he carry into effect the sen- 
tence he has denounced : " I will call for a 
sword against him throughout all my moun- 
tainS; saith the Lord God." 

5. The character of the combat. 

Verse 22. " And I will plead against him 
with pestilence and with blood ; and I will 
rain upon him and upon his bands ; and 
upon the many people that are with him, an 
overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire 
and brimstone." 

'^ I will plead against him with pestilence." 
Does this mean that the cholera, the plague, 
or some other epidemic shall break out in 
the Russian camp ? 

" I will rain upon him — an overflowing 
rain." 

In the original, the verb " / will rain " is 
a different word to the noun " overflowing 
rain ; " the first word is ^^^^^^^^ " amtir,''^ 
This simply signifies " to rain : " But the 
word tDP5 " geshem " signifies " a heavy 



124 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

rain ; " to which is added ^toid " shotaif,^' 
" overiaowing ; " so that the text is literally : 
" I will rain a heavy overflowing rain upon 
him." 

But no rain, however violent, has ever 
destroyed a great army ! The word rain 
must, therefore, here be understood as a 
metaphor, for some missile or missiles that 
shall be rained, or thrown upon the army of 
" Gog," and under the influence of which 
they shall fall. 

The word " geshem,'^ quoted above, is an 
Arabic word, and signifies ^^ to lie or lean 
hard upon ; " ^^ to be heavy ; " " to press with 
weight ; " ^^ to lie heavy upon." 

This metaphorical rain, is then something 
very ponderous, and that shall press to the 
earth all those upon whom it shall fall. The 
fire of musketry which the well disciplined 
armies of the allies shall shower upon the 
" bands " of Eussia, will be fearful and 
fatal ; and shall continue until, like an ^^ over- 
flowing rain," it has swept them all away 
and deluged their land with their own blood. 

To this overflowing rain is added by the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 125 

Prophet, ^- great hailstoneS; fire and brim- 
stone/^ 

I believe the words ^''^^sS^j: "^p.:?^ " ahnai 
eleggabish '^ occur but twice more in the 
original Scriptures. 

Ezek. chap. 13, verses 11 and 13: "Say 
unto them which daub it with untempered 
mortar, that it shall fall ; there shall be an 
overflowing shower; and ye, great hail- 
stones, shall fall ; and a stormy wind shall 
rend it. Therefore, thus saith the Lord 
God: I will even rend it with a stormy 
wind in my fury ; and there shall be an over- 
flowing shower in mine anger, and great 
hailstones in my fury to consume it." 

Upon this we might just observe, that 
while " an overflowing rain " might wash 
away the " untempered mortar," and a 
" stormy wind " rend the wall, yet hailstones 
could have but little effect on either the 
mortar or the wall : the term hailstone must 
therefore be a metaphor for some very 
powerful projectile. 

So in the text under consideration, the 

'^ ahnai eleggabish^'' is also a projectile or 
11* 



126 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

projectiles ; and being connected with ^^jire 
and brimstone,^^ the sentence, " great hail- 
stones, fire and brimstone " becomes a 
magnificent figure for bombs, rockets, cannon 
balls, and similar instruments of destruction 
which are used in modern warfare. 

In Rev. chap. 9, we learn that on the 
sounding of the " sixth trumpet " an immense 
army issued forth. 

Verse 17. " And the heads of the horses 
were as the heads of lions ; and out of their 
mouths issued fire and smoke and brim- 
stone." 

Upon which text Bishop Newton observes : 

^^A manifest allusion to great guns and 
gunpowder, which were invented under this 
trumpet, and were of such signal service to 
the Othmans in their wars. 

" Amrath the Second broke into Pelopo- 
nessus, and took several strong places by 
the means of his artillery. But his son 
Mohammed, at the siege of Constantinople, 
employed such great guns as were never 
made before. One is described to have been 
of such a monstrous size, that it was drawn 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 127 

by seventy yoke of oxen and by two thou- 
sand men. 

" There were two more, each of which 
discharged a stone of the weight of two 
talents. Others emitted a stone of the 
weight of half a talent. But the greatest 
of all discharged a ball of the weight of 
three talents, or about three hnndred 
pounds; and the report of this cannon is 
said to have been so great, that the country 
round about was shaken to the distance of 
forty furlongs. For forty days the wall was 
battered by these guns, and so many 
breaches were made, that the city was taken 
by assault, and an end put to the Grecian 
empire. '^ 

In Rev. chap. 16, verse 21, where there 
may possibly be a reference to this very 
conflict that has now just commenced, and 
which is represented as taking place under 
the seventh vial, it is said : " And there fell 
upon men a great hail out of heaven, every 
stone about the weight of a talent." 

A talent is at least one hundred pounds ; 
and some reckon it one hundred and thirteen 



12S THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

stones " of such weight have never fallen 
upon our earth ; the word; therefore^ must 
be a metaphor for some ponderous body. 
When all this is taken into consideration, 
the "heavy overflowing rain/' which Jehovah 
will "rain upon " G-og " and upon his bands^ 
and upon the many people that are with 
him/' with the ^' abnai eleggabishj^ ''great 
hailstones^ fire and brimstone,^ may be 
interpreted by the various means for de- 
stroying human life which science has in- 
vented, with which the allied forces are so 
amply supplied; and which will soon be 
thrown with such terrible effect on the 
armies and navies of Russia. 

6. The defeat. 

Chap. 39, V. 3. "And I will smite thy 
bow out of thy left hand, and will cause 
thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 

4. " Thou shalt fall upon the mountains 
of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and 
the people that is with thee; I will give 
thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, 
and to the beasts of the field to be 
devoured. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 129 

5. ^^ Thou shalt fall upon the open field : 
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 

6. ^^ And I will send a fire on Magog, and 
among them that dwell carelessly in the 
isles : and they shall know that I am the 
Lord." 

The ancients were accustomed to call the 
east the front of the earth, which, when 
looking in that direction, the north would 
be the " left handj^ and the south the 
^^ right handy 

The " bow " was an emblem of strength, 
or power. The bow of ^^ Grog," or Russia, 
is in his " left hand,^'' that is, the north. 
Petersburg, the "bow" of Russia, is the 
most northern capital on the globe. 

" I will smite thy bow out of thy left 
hand." From this we learn, that the first 
signal success of the allies will be in the 
Baltic Sea. 

" I will cause thine arrows to fall out of 
thy right hand. The " right hand " of 
Russia is at the Black Sea and the Danube 
River, where her hostile armies are at this 
moment encamped. When the fatal blow 



13d THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

shall be struck in the north, and the news 
thereof shall reach the armies of the south, 
they shall be panic stricken and fly before 
their enemies. With what remarkable pre- 
cision does verse the 3d describe the present 
position of the belligerent forces, as in the 
" left hand " and the "right hand;" that is, 
the Baltic and the Black Sea. 

" Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of 
Israel." 

Thou hast " come from thy place out of 
the north parts " to invade a land that was 
at peace with thee ; " to take a spoil," " and 
to take a prey ; " but thy " mischievous pur- 
pose " shall not be realized ; a combined 
force," " throughout all my mountains^ 
shall assail thee and shall annihilate thy 
power at thy seat of government; thy 
invading armies shall fall in the land they 
have invaded; and they shall fall, not by 
stratagem, but in regular battle in the 
open field ; " and " I will give thee unto the 
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the 
beasts of the field to be devoured." 

" And I will send a fire on Magog, and 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 131 

among them that dwell carelessly (margin, 
" confidently " ) in the isles.'' 

The -word s^'^i^ "iim/' translated isleS; 
properly means sea coasts. 

Parkhurst, in his Hebrew Lexicon^ under 
the word s*"5j^ ^^ nm/' says : " The versions 
and lexicons usually render this word by an 
isle, or island, but it may be justly doubted 
whether it ever has strictly this meaning. 
Even when joined with the — the sea, — it 
seems more properly to denote such countries 
or places as bordered on the sea. 

This explanation will very much simplify 
the text ; for the islands of Russia are not 
very famous, but she possesses an extensive 
sea-coast. 

The " fire " that Jehovah will " send on 
Magog" shall extend to them that dwell 
'^carelessly/' or "confidently" "in isles," or 
sea-coasts. 

From this prophecy we are fully author- 
ized to expect the conquest of both the 
" impregnable " Sebastopol, and the strongly 
fortified arsenal of Cronstadt. 

This text supplies another argument 



132 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

against applying this prophecy to the Jewish 
nation. For if we were to suppose that 
Russia were to invade Palestine, and to be 
defeated there, yet, if the Jews had the will, 
they would not possess the means of carry- 
ing the war into the country of the enemy, 
or of " sending a fire on Magog and among 
them that dwell carelessly on the sea- 
coasts." This can only be done by a nation 
with a large naval force, which the Jews 
never did, and probably never will possess ; 
but a force adequate to this is possessed by 
" Gomer " and the merchants of Tarshish, 
and that force is now actually assembling 
and for the very purpose of carrying and 
of spreading a " fire " on " Magog," and 
among them that dwell confidently in the 
isles. 

The defeat of Russia is certain, with the 
entire overthrow of all her mighty force — 
for the Lord has spoken it. " For I will 
smite " "^p*^?*? " hichchathij^ I will cause 
to he smitten by the sword,^^ ^^ thy bow out 
of thy left hand." The power that is ar- 
rayed against thee will take thy northern 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 133 

strongholds ; " thy arrows shall fall out of 
thy right hand ; " thy armies in the south 
shall be paralyzed and fly; but when they 
shall make a stand for the final conflict, 
their overthrow and destruction shall be 
inevitable : for, " thou shalt fall upon the 
mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy 
bandsj and the people that is with thee^ 

The boasted millions of armed men which 
Russia may bring shall not save her ; for her 
'' cup is full of abominations/' and her doom 
is sealed. " The pride of thine heart has 
deceived thee, thou that dwellest in clefts 
of the rock, whose habitation is high; that 
saith in his heart, who shall bring me down 
to the ground ? Though thou exalt thyself 
as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest 
among the stars, thence will I bring thee 
down, saith the Lord.'' Obadiah 3:4. 

7. The place of final discomfiture. 

Does the prophet inform us where " Gog " 
shall be overthrown ? and can we ascertain 
that locality ? Let us carefully examine the 
text. 

Chap. 39, verse 11. "And it shall come 

12 



134 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

to pass in that day, that I will give unto 
Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the 
valley of the passengers on the east of the 
sea : and it shall stop the noses of the pas- 
sengers ; and there shall they bury Gog and 
all his multitude ; and they shall call it the 
valley of Hamon-Gog." 

"We have made some remarks on " the 
valley of the passengers " in our introduc- 
tion, p. 18; but the reader will perhaps not 
be displeased to hear something more on 
the same subject, as it is so important to a 
right understanding of the prophecy. 

1. Its geographical situation. " On the 
east of the sea." When in the Scriptures 
the land of Palestine is spoken of, and the 
word " sea " occurs, it often, although not 
always, means the Mediterranean Sea ; and 
if it could be proved that the phrases " land 
of Israel," and " mountains of Israel," as 
used in this prophecy, refer exclusively to 
Judea, then we might expect to find " the 
valley of the passengers somewhere on the 
eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, 
and within the limits of the promised land ; 



THE MODEllN CRUSADE. 135 

but we have shewn that those expression^ 
cannot be so limited, but must be understood 
in a much more extended sense. 

We have subjoined the above phrases, as 
applying to Christian lands; and if our 
interpretation be correct, then will the 
word ^^ sea " mean some collection of 
waters which bounds Christendom to the 
eastward ; which certainly is not the Medi- 
terranean ; but must mean either the Black 
Sea, the Sea of Azof, or the Caspian Sea ; 
for these seas do really form the bounds of 
Christian lands, and particularly the Cas- 
pian ; for the whole world to the east of the 
Caspian Sea is either Heathen or Moham- 
medan. 

Now the " valley of the passengers " is on 
the " east of the sea ; " and therefore some 
place answering to the description as given 
by the prophet, must be sought for in the 
vicinity of one of the three seas above 
named. 

2. It is called " a valley''' 

We would here beg to inform the English 
reader that, in the Hebrew Bible, there are 



136 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

four different words translated " valley ; " and 
each word conveys some peculiar idea of the 
place it is intended to describe. 

1. 5>p5 " Bigah.^^ This means a break 
between mountains. It occurs Deut. chap. 
8, V. 7. Fountains and depths that spring 
out of valleys and hills. 

2. b™ ^^ NakhaV "^ valley or low 
ground with a stream of waterJ^ It 
occurs^ Gen. 26 : 17. ^^ And Isaac departed 
thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of 
Gerar. Through this valley runs the brook 
Besor. The modern Arabs call such a place 
'^ wadi:' 

3. |p)p? '^ Emegy " A low, deep valley.'* 
It occurs, Gen. 14: 3. "All these were 
joined together in the vale of Siddim, 
which is the salt sea." Such a place was 
the " valley of Jezreel/' (Judges 6 : 33,) so 
often referred to in the historical parts of 
the Bible. 

4. "^5 " Gaiy This word comes from 
a verb, which signifies " to increase^^^ " ri^e," 
^^ swellj^ "to groio higher and higher*''^ 

" Gai " is defined as " a valley/' or more 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 13T 

properly, " a rising ground or laivUj rising 
from the bottorrij to the adjoining hiliy^ 

" A broad valley ^ This is the word used 
in the text. 

'' The valley of the passengers '^ is, then, 
a " broad rising ground.^^ It cannot possi-; 
bly be the " valley of Jezreel ; " for this is 
shewn in definition third to be, " a low deep 
valley, '^ emeg ; " but the " valley of the 
passengers " is a rising ground, a " gai-^^ 
For a place like this, and sufficiently capa- 
cious for the mighty army of ^^ Gog " and 
their opponents to engage in their mortal 
combat, we shall look in vain through all 
the land of Judea. 

But a place answering this description in 
every particular, is found in the south of 
Eussia. 

In speaking of Russia now, we wish to be 
understood as Eussia within her own 
bounds, or as the proper land of " Gog.'' 
Eussia did not formerly extend beyond the 
forty-eighth degree of latitude ; all to the 
south of that parallel are encroachments. 

* See Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon. 
12* 



138 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Russia in general is a level country, 
nevertheless if a line be drawn from the 
Caspian Sea, a little to the westward 
of north, and that line be extended to the 
Arctic Ocean, it will include two large 
declivities J gradually descending ; one to- 
wards the north-east and the north-west, 
and the other towards the Caspian Sea, 
south. 

With this latter declivity^ we have to do 
in our present inquiry. 

In the British Cyclopaedia, under the 
article Eussia, we read : " Russia has two 
great declivities^ one towards the north-west 
and the north-east, and the other towards 
the south. Down the south declivity flow 
the rivers Dnieper, Don^ the Kuban, and the 
Volga, 

Chambers also informs us, concerning 
Russia : 

" The territory may be regarded as one 
vast plain, with a slight elevation running 
diagonally across the interior, and forming 
the great water-shed which diverts the rivers 
to the Arctic Ocean on the one hand, and to 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 139 

the Caspian and Black Seas on the other : 
the southerly portion of the plain includes 
the whole district along the Volga, as far as 
the sandy steppes or deserts, between the 
Caspian and the Sea of Azof, and consti- 
tutes the finest part of Russia." 

Here is the very thing described by the 
prophet; it is '^ gai,^ " a rising ground;" "a 
broad valley;" a ^^lawn rising from the 
bottom to the adjoining hills ;" having the 
Carpathian mountains to the west, and the 
Ural mountains to the east. It also is, or 
lies, to the east of the sea : i. e. the Sea of 
Azof: and moreover it is the utmost bound 
of Christian lands towards the east. 

3. " The valley of the passengers." 

The designation of the place is also very 
remarkable. ^^ The valley of the passengers " 
is certainly intended to point out the place 
as some great thoroughfare." 

This designation can be applied to no 
place in Palestine except in a very limited 
sense ; but it applies with very great force 
to southern Russia. For the "g-ai" in this 
region is truly a " valley of passengers." 



140 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Down this ^^gai'^ Russia carries on an 
immense traffic; through it caravans take 
the produce of Russia to Tartary, Persia, 
and China, and bring back tea, silks, and 
other productions of southern climes. 
Down this " gai " flows the Don, which dis- 
charges its waters into the Sea of Azof, 
and the majestic Volga, said to be navigable 
for seventeen hundred miles; and what 
seems utterly surprising, this noble stream, 
the Volga, which empties its waters into 
the Caspian, is to this day called '^ the high- 
way of Central Russia.''^ 

Down this " gai " Russia has sent and is 
sending her munitions of war to the south ; 
down a portion of this valley, many of the 
troops of Russia have marched to the shores 
of the Black Sea. Sebastopol and the 
Crimea is the south-west extremity of this 
"gai." If the Russian armies should be 
defeated by the Turks, they must retire to 
some portion of this valley. 

Towards this " gai " the Anglo French 
armies will make their way ; that valley is a 
central point for Russia to assemble her 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 141 

forces from distant parts of the empire ; and 
sufficiently extensive for them all to act. 
Somewhere, then, in this " gai/' near the 
Don or the Volga, will "Gog" or Russia 
make a final stand, and there will he be 
overthrown. For thus, " saith the Lord 
God, I will give unto Gog a place there of 
graves in Israel, the valley of the passen- 
gers on the east of the sea." 

The English text reads : " And it shall 
stop the noses of the passengers ; " but there 
is no word in the Hebrew answering to 
this : in the margin the word " mouths " is 
inserted ; this word is also without a cor- 
responding word in the original. It is cer- 
tain neither word is necessary to complete 
the sense, for the text reads better without 
either term. The place of graves '^ shall 
stop the passengers,''^ This may either 
mean, the traffic of Russia shall be limited ; 
or what seems the better sense, the power 
of Gog shall be " stopped ; " and the pas- 
sengers, or the tribes of the south, shall be 
no longer subject to his tyrannical and 
despotic sway. " And there shall they bury 
Goo; and all his multitude." 



142 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

The awful conflict in the "valley of the 
passengers " is described by the prophet in 
strong figurative language, yet in language 
that is capable of an easy solution. 

Verse 17. "And thou, son of man, thus 
saith the Lord God, speak unto every 
feathered fowl, and to every beast of the 
field, assemble yourselves and come ; gather 
yourselves on every side to my sacrifice 
(margin slaughter) that I do sacrifice for 
you, even a great sacrifice upon the moun- 
tains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and 
drink blood." 

The great " sacrifice " or slaughter being 
proclaimed, and both birds and beasts sum- 
moned to feast thereon, the rank and 
character of the slain (for the slain spoken 
of are certainly men and not beasts) is 
described by the terms " rams," " lambs," 
"goats," "bullocks," and "fatlings of 
Bashan." 

Verse 18. "Ye shall eat the flesh of the 
mighty, and drink the blood of the princes 
of the earth, of rams." 

Among the ancients rams were taught to 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 143 

go before the flocks as leaders, and were 
followed by the flocks. 

Aristotle says : " In every flock they prepare 
a leader of the males, who, when the shep- 
herd calls him by name, goes before them." 

In reference to this custom, generals and 
leaders of armies are often called " ramsj^ 
both by profane and sacred writers. 

Thus Homer speaking of Ulysses mar- 
shalling the Greeks, says : 

" Nor yet appear his care and conduct small ; 
From rank to rank he moves and orders all. 
The stately ram thus measures o'er the ground, 
And master of the flocks, surveys them round." 

Pope's Translation. 

The ^^ stately ram^^ is the general of the 
army. 

Similar language is found in the sacred 
volume. 

Exodus, chap. 15, v. 15. ^^ The mighty men 
of Moab " is, literally, the rams, or leaders 
of Moab. 

In Ezekiel, chap. It, v. 13: "He hath 
also taken the mighty of the land : " liter- 
ally; the rams of the land. 



144 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

So in the text: "Ye shall eat the flesh 
of rams, of lambs," meanS; the bodies of 
great military chiefs, and their armies, shall 
be exposed on the field of battle." 

Another term used by the prophet is 
"goats;" the margin reads, '^ great goats.^^ 
The word D'^'i^iti? " athudim " means both 
^^ he goats ^^ and '^ great goats;''' and so it 
is rendered in different texts. Isaiah, chap. 
14, V. 9 : " The chief ones of the earth : " 
the margin reads, " the great goats of the 
earth." Jeremiah, chap. 50, v. 8 : " Remove 
out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth 
out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as 
the he goats before the flocks." Zech. chap. 
10, V. 3 : " Mine anger was kindled against 
the shepherds, and I punished the goats." 

'^ Goats " here, means the potentates, 
princes or rulers who may be engaged in 
this struggle, many of whom shall fall, and 
be involved in the same mass of carnage 
with men of inferior rank. 

The next term used by the prophet is 
" bullocks," to which he immediately adds, 
" all of them fatlings of Bashan," the word 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 145 

*^J$*]1D " meria " comes from a verb wHch 
signifies to " rise " or " swell up,^^ and while 
the noun is frequently used for a swelled or 
fatted beast; yet in the Chaldean, which is 
the language here used, it signifies a ^^ sove- 
reigUj a supreme lord, one elevated to the 
highest dignity and power, ''^ In Dan. chap. 
4: 19, this word is translated "my lordJ'^ 

In verse 20, it is said : " Thus ye shall be 
filled at my table with horses and chariots." 
n^'i " Rechah " means a charioteer or rider. 

From this description, as given by the 
prophet, we learn that this dreadful war 
will be attended with an immense effusion 
of human blood, and that it will terminate 
in a battle that will be fearful in the 
extreme, and without a parallel for the 
numbers that shall be engaged; for the 
science employed for the destruction of 
human life ; and for the slaughter that shall 
ensue ; when potentates, generals, soldiers, 
horses and riders shall fall in vast masses, 
and over an extent of country so great, that 
the rites of sepulture will be impossible; 
but birds and beasts shall feast upon them : 

13 



146 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

for to the birds of the air and the beasts of 
the field it is said, verse 19 : ^^ And ye shall 
eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till 
ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have 
sacrificed for you. 

Verse 20. " Thus ye shall be filled at my 
table with horses and chariots, with mighty 
men, and with all men of war, saith the 
Lord God." 

Whether the final defeat of Russia, which 
there is now every reason to believe, shall 
take place as the result of the present 
struggle, is or is not the battle of " Arma- 
geddon''^ spoken of in Rev. chap. 16, verse 
16, we will leave others to decide. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE OVERTHROW. 

Gog shall be turned back to his own Dominions — Shall be 
deprived of his Conquests — Shall be restrained from future 
Aggression — The Effect upon the Spread of Religion. 
Conclusion. 

1, Gog shall be turned back. 

Chap. 38, Y. 2 : " Son of man, set thy face 
against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief 
prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy 
against him. 

Verse 3. " And say, thus saith the Lord 
God: Behold, I am against thee, Gog, 
the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 

Verse 4. " I Vill turn thee back, and put 
hooks into thy jaws. '^ 

If the reader will please to open his 
Bible he will see a comma after the word 
'^ jawsj^ in verse 4, where we have presumed 
to insert a period. 



148 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

"We have made this alteration, 1. Because 
the pointed Hebrew Bible is pointed here 
with an " ath-nach/^ which is equivalent to a 
colon or period. 2. Because the sentence 
is completed at the word ^^ jaws; "for his 
being ^^ turned back " is certainly subse- 
quent to his being brought forth with ^^ army, 
horses and horsemen." 

Chap. 39, verse 1. '^ Therefore, thou son 
of man, prophesy against Gog: Behold, I 
a?7i against thee, Grog, the chief prince of 
Meshech and Tubal : 

Verse 2. " And I will turn thee back, and 
leave but the sixth part of thee." 

Here again we have put a period where 
the English text only has a comma, and as 
in the above case, after a word which, to 
make sense of the passage, must close the 
sentence. For the words that immediately 
follow: ^^I will turn thee back and leave 
but the sixth part of thee," are, " And will 
cause thee to come up from the north parts, 
and will bring thee upon the mountains of Is- 
rael." This sentence cannot possibly refer 
to events which will follow his being ^< turned 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 149 

backj^ and of his being deprived of jive 
sixths of his territory, but to those that 
precede. 

" Grog " first came up from his place out 
of the north parts " with his " army, horses 
and horsemen/' to invade the land; and 
afterioards he is turned back and punished 
as described. 

We hope these reasons will be deemed 
sufficient for the liberty we have taken in 
altering the points, and in closing the sen- 
tences as above. 

" I will turn thee back.'' 

" Gog " had extensive possessions and a 
rich country of his own; but he was not 
satisfied therewith, and he made aggressions 
upon other lands, and became a tyrant and 
robber of other nations. 

Russia was but little known in Europe, 
until near the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. She was then almost in a barbarous 
state, and had herself frequently suffered 
by the inroads of surrounding nations. 

At that period, Ivan II. sat upon the 
throne, and under him commenced the 

13* 



150 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

aggressive policy of Russia, for which her 
recent history has been so famous. 

Ivan II. contemplated establishing com- 
mercial relations with Central Asia; in 
order to effect which purpose he raised a 
standing army and invaded Tartary. 

After seven years' war, a large tract of 
country called " Casan/' near the Ural 
Mountains, was subdued by the army of 
Ivan. This occurred in 1552. 

The next year, Ivan marched his armies 
south; and in 1554, the kingdom of Astra- 
chan, and all the country to the north of the 
Caspian Sea was conquered, and the south- 
ern frontier of Russia was extended from 
about the forty-eighth degree of latitude to 
the forty-fifth. 

In 1689, Peter ascended the throne; and 
became sole monarch in the year 1696. 
The southern boundry of Russia was then in 
the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; and 
in the northern part of the empire, her west 
line only extended to the thirty-third degree 
east longitude. At that period she had no 
possessions on either the Black Sea or the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 151 

Baltic, and no access to the ocean except by- 
Archangel ; for even the province of Ingria, 
in which her capital is situated, then 
belonged to Sweden. 

Peter contemplated making Russia a 
great maritime power ; to accomplish which, 
as soon as he commenced his reign, he com- 
menced his wars. He first led his troops 
against the Turks, from whom he took the 
fortress of Azof, and hence originated the 
operations of Russia in the Black Sea; and 
by various subsequent wars and treaties 
she has extended her line from Azof along 
the shore of the Black Sea, as far west as 
the river Danube. 

In the year 1709, Russia began her con- 
quests in Sweden, by the famous battle of 
Pultowa ; and by various wars and treaties, 
Russia has wrested from Sweden at least 
one half of her kingdom. She has seized 
Finland, and has extended her line in that 
part of her empire, west, from longitude 
thirty-three degrees to eighteen degrees. 

Poland was the country on which Russia 
next cast her ambitious eye. In 1772, the 



152 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Czarina Catherine seized upon that king- 
dom, which has since been partitioned and 
divided between Russia, Austria, and Prus- 
sia : Eussia obtaining a " lion's share." To 
complete the subjection of Poland to Russia, 
in the year 1815, the Emperor Alexander 
received the title, " Czar, and King of 
Poland*; " and in accordance therewith he 
received " homage at Warsaw." 

Russia now turned her eye to the south, 
and determined to extend her frontier in 
that direction. 

In the year 1742, she built the town of 
Orenburg, and formed the government of 
Orenburg, in the then south-east boundary 
of the empire. 

The fortress of Orenburg is situated in 
lat 52° 31', and east longitude 54° 49'. 
This was intended as a stepping stone to 
farther conquests. 

Soon after the building of Orenburg, 
several " KhanSj^ or sovereigns of Tartary, 
submitted to the Russian arms. 

From Orenburg, her forces marched south 
to the Sea of " Aral," which, as well as the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 153 

Caspian Sea, is now entirely under control 
of the Russian flag. 

In the year 1840, Russia sent an expedi- 
tion by the Sea of Aral, to " Khiva," in 
Southern Tartary, in about the forty-first 
degree of south latitude. Last year, she 
sent an expedition to the '^ Sir-Deria," a 
river which discharges its waters into the 
Sea of Aral, on the eastern side of that sea. 
The " Sir-Deria " is said to have been the 
" laxartes " of the ancients. On this river 
Russia now has a fort. 

From ^^ Khiva," she has again advanced 
south and east, and her influence now is felt 
in " Bokhara," Samarcand, and " Kokhan." 
From ^^ Khiva," on the west, to " Kokhan," 
on the east, is near five hundred miles ; this 
is her extended front to the south, where 
she is now within a few degrees of the 
British possessions in India, which her 
armies have already menaced. 

From the Caspian Sea, she advanced upon 
Persia, to the west and to the south, and 
took from Persia, the province of Daghes- 
tan, and other districts, comprising an 



154 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

extent of country equal to the whole of 
England. 

These conquests were made in fourteen 
years. 

It is said that from the days of Peter to 
the present time, including a period of about 
one hundred and fifty years, "Russia has 
advanced her frontier five hundred miles 
towards Constantinople, six hundred and 
thirty miles towards Stockholm, seven hun- 
dred towards Berlin and Vienna, and one 
thousand towards Calcutta." And in the 
mean time her conquests have extended 
over the whole of Northern Asia, and a 
portion of North America. Yet is she not 
satisfied. Constantinople is the present 
object of her ambition and designs ; which, 
did she obtain, she would overlap, em- 
barras, and menace all Europe; the world 
would be under her " dictum," and her iron 
hand would enslave all nations. 

But the " Lord God Omnipotent reign- 
eth," and he has set bounds to the ambition 
of the mightiest monarch. " Gog " has gone 
his full length of conquest and of oppres- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 155 

sion, and now he shall be stayed — for 
'^Thus saith the Lord God: I will turn thee 
back, and put hooks in thy jaws." 

2. Gog shall be deprived of his conquests. 

Chap. 39, verse 2, " And leave but the 
sixth part of thee." 

In these words our attention is directed 
to the immediate result of this present war. 

1. While the armies and navies of Russia 
shall be defeated and overthrown, yet her 
nationality shall be preserved. She shall 
not be destroyed, but " turned back.^^ 

It is a remarkable feature in this war, 
that, before its commencement, the Allies 
pledged themselves to each other and to the 
world, that they will receive no additional 
territory by the conquest of Russia; and 
they still avow it as their only object to 
secure the independency of the Turkish 
Empire. 

This sole object is constantly insisted on 
by the British government, in all their oflBi- 
cial acts ; and that the views of France are 
identical in this, is clearly shown by the 
speech of the Emperor of Prance, at the 



156 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 



opening of the legislative session^ on the 
second of March. Upon that occasion the 
Emperor said: 

^^ Europe knows that France entertains 
710 ideas of aggrandisement ; she only 
wishes to resist dangerous encroachments* 
Therefore I am proud to proclaim openly, 
that the time of conquest is past irrecover- 
ably ; for it is not by extending its territo- 
rial limits that a nation can henceforth be 
honored and powerful ; it is by placing itself 
at the head of generous ideaS; by making 
everywhere prevail the empire of Right and 
Justice." 

But while the nationality of Russia will 
be preserved^ yet we learn from the Prophet 
that she will be deprived of her conquests 
and be confined within her own proper 
bounds : " I will leave but the sixth part of 
thee." 

It is truly worthy of deep consideration, 
as being illustrative of this part of the 
prophecy, that Russia, as she exists in her 
present gigantic form, does really consist of 
six parts. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 157 

One part is her own proper territory ; 
besides which she occupies five other parts, 
which she has wrested from five other 
nations. 

Russia Proper is very extensive ; it in- 
cludes a large portion of Europe and North- 
ern Asia, or the countries of " Rosh, Me- 
shech, and Tubal ; " that is, Eussia, Muscovy, 
and Siberia. These countries Russia will 
continue to hold. 

But Russia has robbed five nations of 
large portions of territory, which she must 
now give back. 

The countries she has robbed are as fol- 
lows: 

1. Tartary; commencing with the con- 
quest of Casan and Astrachan, in the six- 
teenth century, and continuing her conquests 
until this day. 

2. Turkey ; commencing with the conquest 
of Azof and the Crimea, in the dawn of the 
last century, and continuing until 1812, 
when the Pruth was made the boundary 
between the two empires. 

3. Poland; which as before said has 

14 



158 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

been divided between Russia, Austria, and 
Prussia. 

4. Sweden; commencing with the con- 
quest of Ingria and Livonia, in the days of 
Peter the Great, and continuing until the 
year 1809, when the entire control of the 
Gulf of Finland was ceded to Russia. 

5. Persia; beginning in 1800, and ending 
in 1812, when large portions of Persia came 
under the government of the northern 
tyrant. 

These are the principal conquests of Rus- 
sia, and they are jxi^i Jive in number ; Rus- 
sia proper makes the sixth part, and Jeho- 
vah says to " Gog," " I will leave but the 
sixth part of thee." 

In the month of March last, and a few 
days before the declaration of war, a politi- 
cal pamphlet bearing the title : '• A Revision 
of the Map of Europe,'^ was printed in 
France, but was immediately suppressed for 
political reasons, not however before its 
contents were made public. 

This pamphlet is generally supposed to 
have been written by the Emperor of France 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 159 

himself; it is a remarkable production, and 
may be regarded as a most astonishing com- 
ment on the words, ^^ I will leave but the 
sixth part of thee ; " as will be seen from 
the following extract : 

'^ Prance, in drawing the sword, demands 
nothing for herself; she wishes nothing, she 
stands in need of nothing. The greatness 
of a country is not measured by the extent 
of its territory, but by the influence of its 
policy and the expansive force of its ideas. 
England, our cordial and powerful ally, does 
not expect anything either, as the reward of 
her concurrence. Like us she acts in the 
sense of the national tradition, but also in 
sense of the liberty of the world. 

" This disinterested attitude, supported 
by reiterated and solemn declaration, leaves 
no doubt upon the mind of any man. The 
Western powers would only, therefore, be 
the more authorized to raise the question of 
remodelling the map of Europe. 

" Has not the moment come for openly 
declaring what all think and whisper below 
their breath? What illusion does there 



160 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

still exist in the nature of the conditions 
upon which Europe must dictate a desirable 
and solemn peace, which will indemnify her 
for the sacrifices she is preparing to make ? 

" To-day all eyes are opened. It is by 
the extent of the danger that the means of 
preventing its return must be measured. It 
is quite clearly understood that it will not 
suffice to demolish the ships and the ports 
of Eussia, but that it is still more necessary 
to drive her back, especially towards Asia, 
far beyo7id her actual boundai^ies. 

"It is not in her centre that Russia is 
vulnerable, it is at her extremities. But 
if the blood is driven back towards her 
heart, she will choke. The head of the 
colossus is at Helsingfors, its right arm at 
Warsaw, its feet at Sebastopol. It is then 
Finland, Poland, and the C^^imea, that it is 
necessary to drag out of the clutches of the 
double-headed eagle. 

" The loss of Finland is an ever-bleeding 
wound in the flank of Sweden, for she beheld 
that fine province torn away from her piece- 
meal, from whence Russia draws nearly the 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 161 

whole of her maritime population and her 
timber. It is in Finland that the reprisals of 
aroused Europe must commence ; and resti- 
tution of that country to its ancient owners 
would be an act of policy, the prudence and 
justice of which none dare gainsay. A line 
drawn from Viborg to the Gulf of Onega, 
would become on that side, in the north, 
the extreme limit of Eussia. The country 
of Gustavus Adolphus and of Charles XII. 
would resume the rank so long and so 
worthily occupied in the councils of Europe. 

'^ If it were possible to restore the ancient 
Polish nationality, so great an act of repa- 
ration would make all generous hearts beat 
with pulsations of joy. Condemned at 
present to the silence of the slave and to 
a political death, Poland would then have a 
place and a deliberate voice in the assem- 
blies of a state which has given so many 
proofs of religious toleration and of a wise 
spirit of progress." 

The emperor proposes, that besides the 
Crimea, Eussia shall be compelled to restore 
to Turkey "the oriental shores of the 

14* 



162 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Euxine, and the trans-Caucasian countries, 
where the Russians have established them- 
selves to take Constantinople in the rear. 
The ejffect of this double restitution would 
be to assure the brave mountaineers of the 
Caucasus, who, with their own resources 
have competed for twenty years against the 
Muscovite forces." 

The emperor adds : " Thus would be 
closed to Russia that road towards Persia 
and India which she has tracked out for her- 
self with so much perseverance and zeal." 

No one would suppose that the Emperor 
of Prance, if he really wrote the above, 
designed his pamphlet to be a comment on 
the text under consideration: yet does he 
say of Russia, it is " necessary to drive her 
hack ;^^ while he shews that the government 
views with indignation the conquests Russia 
has made from five different countries^ 
namely, Pinland or Sweden, Poland, Turkey, 
Caucasus or Tartary, and Persia ; and that 
Prance and Great Britain both contemplate 
dragging these conquests "out of the 
clutches of the double-headed eagle." 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 163 

Surely the text, "I will turn thee back 
and leave but the sixth part of thee," needs 
no further exposition. 

3. Gog shall be restrained from future 
aggression. 

Chap. 38 : 3. "I will turn thee back, and 
put hooks into thy jaws." 

" I will put hooks into thy jaws," has 
reference to the manner of taming, or 
restraining, refractory beasts, as the camel 
or buffalo, where a ring is passed through 
the nose of the animal, to which a rope is 
fastened, and by which it is guided at 
pleasure." 

Job, when speaking of "leviathan," asks, 
*^ Canst thou put an hook into his nose ? or 
bore his jaw through with a thorn ? " 

The application of this to our present 
purpose, will be understood by a reference 
to the case of Sennacherib, 2 Kings, chap. 
19, V. 28, where God said to that impious 
monarch : ^' Because thy rage against me and 
thy tumult is come up into mine ears, there- 
fore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my 
bridle in thy lips, and I will .turn thee back 



164 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 



by the way which thou earnest." The 35th 
and the 36th verses fully explain the 
words, ^* I will put my hook in thy nose ; " 
for, " It came to pass that same night, that 
the angel of the Lord went out, and smote 
in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred 
and fourscore and five thousand : and when 
they arose early in the morning, behold 
they were all dead corpses." Here was the 
overthrow of Sennacherib; and was fol- 
lowed by an immediate retreat into his own 
land, after which he never returned into 
Judea, but was slain by his sons, " Adram- 
melech and Sharezer." So in the case of 
^^ Grog," or Russia. She shall not only be 
defeated, ^^ turned back," and reduced to 
one " sixth part/* but " hooks " shall be put 
into her ^^jaws,^ or she shall be restrained 
from ever again subduing or oppressing the 
surrounding nations. 

^^^ The manner in which " hooks " shall be 
" put into the jaws " of " Gog," is graphi- 
cally represented in chap. 39 : 8-16. The 
events described in these verses, although 
near at hand, are nevertheless yet future; 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 165 

and as we utterly disclaim all prophetic 
knowledge, we would gladly pass these 
verses without a single remark, if, by so 
doing, we could bring our observations to a 
satisfactory close. But as this cannot be^ 
done, while we would not dogmatise on this 
matter, we would nevertheless respectfully 
crave the reader's indulgence while we 
submit to his consideration what appears to 
us to be the meaning of this very difficult 
part of the prophecy. 

Verse 8. " Behold, it is come, and it is. 
done, saith the Lord God; this is the day 
whereof I have spoken. 

9. " And they that dwell in the cities of. 
Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire 
and burn the weapons, both the shields and 
the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and 
the hand-staves and the spears, and they 
shall burn them with fire seven years. 

10. ^^ So that they shall take no wood out 
of the field, neither cut down any out of the 
forests; for they shall burn the weapons 
with fire ; and they shall spoil those that 
spoiled them, and rob those that robbed 
them, saith the Lord God." 



166 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Here is a reference to the ancient usage 
of burning the arms and instruments of 
war belonging to the conquered nations. 
Thus we read, Joshua, chap. 11, v. 6 : " And 
the Lord said unto Joshua, " Be not afraid 
because of them ; for to-morrow about this 
time will I deliver them up all slain before 
Israel : thou shalt hough their horses, and 
burn their chariots with fire." 

In the present instance we certainly can- 
not understand that the arms of " Gog " 
shall literally supply all the " people of the 
land " with fuel for " seven years ; " that 
would be impossible ; nor does the prophet 
say this. He says : " They that dwell in 
the cities of Israel shall burn them," i. e. 
the instruments of war, " seven years." 

Does not this instruct us as to the manner 
in which this war with " Gog " shall be 
prosecuted? And will not the fleets and 
armies of the allies, by the use of steam, 
and in accordance with the modern tactics 
of war, proceed along the coasts of Russia, 
burn her maritime towns, dismantle her 
forts, destroy her navy, and hold military 



THE MODEKN CRUSADE. 167 

possession of her strongholds, for the space 
of " seven years ? " 

This interpretation will show a remark- 
able connection in the different parts of the 
prophecy. For although Gog shall be de- 
feated and conquered, yet there is not the 
least hint that the armies opposed to him 
shall invade the interior of his dominions. 
In fact ifc is strongly intimated by the 
Prophet that the conflict with Russia shall 
be entirely on her frontiers. For in chap. 
39, verse 2, it is said : " I will turn thee 
back ; " but it is not said he shall be fol- 
lowed. Verse 3 : ^^ I will smite thy bow 
out of thy left hand, and will cause thine 
arrows to fall out of thy right hand ; " but 
it is not said he shall be attacked in his in- 
terior. Verse 4 : ^^ Thou shalt fall upon the 
mountains of Israel," not in thine own lands. 

Verse 6. " And I will send fire on Magog, 
and among them that dwell carelessly in the 
isles," which, as before explained, means 
" sea-coasts : " it is not said the fire will 
burn through the heart of his dominions. 
Verse 9 : " They that dwell in the cities of 



168 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Israel shall go forth and burn the weapons 
in the fire seven years ; " which words seem 
to convey the idea, that for " seven years " 
Russia shall be virtually disarmed, having 
no navy, or forts on her sea-coasts; and 
that, during that period, " they shall take no 
wood out of the field, neither cut down any 
out of the forests " to rebuild the navy, or 
restore the demolished fortresses, " for they 
shall burn the weapons with fire." 

In the pamphlet by the French emperor, 
from whence we have just made a long 
extract, we are given to understand that the 
plan of the present campaign, is, in all par- 
ticulars, in full agreement with this part of 
the prophecy. The words of the emperor 
are so astonishing, that we may be excused 
if we again place them before the eye of 
the reader. 

"It is quite clearly understood that it 
will not suffice to demolish the ships and 
the ports of Russia, but that it is still more 
necessary to drive her back, especially 
towards Asia, far beyond her actual bound- 
aries. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 169 

"It is not in her centre that Russia is 
vulnerablej it is at her extremities. But if 
the blood is driven back towards her heart, 
she will choke. The head of the colossus 
is at Helsingfors, its right arm at Warsaw, 
its feet at Sebastopol. It is then Finland, 
Poland; and the Crimea, that it is necessary 
to drag out of the clutches of the double- 
headed eagle." 

While verses 9 and 10 describe the man- 
ner in which the war shall be prosecuted 
in its earlier stages, verse 11th points to 
the place of the last conflict between the 
belligerent armies. 

For our views on this we refer the reader 
to a preceding page and to the remarks 
there made we shall add nothing further. 

Verse 12. " And seven months shall the 
house of Israel be burying of them, that 
they may cleanse the land." 

We certainly must not understand from 
this, that the conflict in the " valley of the 
passengers " will be so dreadful, that it will 
occupy " all the people of the land " " seven 
months " to bury the dead ! 

15 



170 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

This supposition is absurd. The Prophet 
seems to refer to the time the war shall 
continue. " Seven months " shall be em- 
ployed in this war ; but when the ^^ seven 
months " are to commence; the Prophet does 
not inform us. Possibly from the declara- 
tion of war by the allies. But the war will 
be of ^^ seven months " duration^ and at the 
termination of that point, shall the mighty 
power of " Gog " be ^' buried/' so that it 
shall not again terrify and enslave the 
nations. And this overthrow of ^^ G-og " 
shall take place, '^ that they may cleanse the 
land/' that tyranny and oppression may 
be destroyed, and that the nations of the 
east may be delivered from the G-od-dishon- 
oring and soul-deceiving teaching of the 
corrupt hierarchy of Russia. 

Verse 13. " Yea, all the people of the 
land shall bury them ; and it shall be to them 
a renown the day that I shall be glorified, 
saith the Lord God." 

Some of the European nations may hesi- 
tate as to what part, or whether they shall 
take any part in this dreadful war, yet in 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 171 

the end thej will unite ; for it is written^ 
" all the people of the land shall bury theiny 
It shall be to the nations who accomplish 
this great purpose, " a renown/' and G-od 
thereby " shall be glorified." 

But means shall be employed to prevent 
the resuscitation of the power of Russia. 

Verse 14, " And they shall sever out men 
of continual employment, passing through 
the land to bury with the passengers those 
that remain upon the face of the earth, to 
cleanse it: after seven months shall they 
search." 

Upon this verse we would observe, first, 
that in the Hebrew there is no word answer- 
ing to the English word ^^ employment ; ''^ 
second, that the margin very properly inserts 
the word " continuance^^ instead of " con- 
tinual ; third, that there is no stop after 
the word n'^^on " Tamid,^^ ^' continuance,^ but 
the first stop in the pointed Hebrew Bible 
is after f^i^5 '' Ba-aretz,'' "in the land," and 
is equal to a semi-colon; so that the text 
will read thus : ^^ And men of continuance 
they shall sever passing in the land." 



172 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

Those persons called by the Prophet, 
'^ men of continuance," are evidently men of 
talent and perseverance, or who are in 
modern language diplomatists ; these, the 
^^ people of the land " shall " sever : " that 
is, the governments of Europe shall appoint 
them to fix the future bounds of Russia, and 
the rank she shall hereafter sustain among 
the nations. 

These " men of continuance " will not be 
called upon to the discharge of their duties 
until the termination of the war, when they 
will be associated with others who are 
called " passengers." 

The word t'^S^^N'i " Ha-overirrij^ " passen- 
gers," means " pilgrims," " itinerants," or 
persons who are frequently removing from 
place to place." Abraham was such a " pas- 
senger," and the same word is applied to 
him. In Gen. 12 : 6, it is said, " And Abram 
passed through the land." In Gen. 14: 13, 
" Abram " is called ^^ the Hebrew : " that is, 
the " passenger ; " and in the same sense 
the patriarchs of old were " sojourners, or 
passengers " in the land of Canaan. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 173 

The term " passengers" in the text evi- 
dently means the nomadic or wandering 
tribes in Central Asia, who have been op- 
pressed by Russia; but who shall now gain 
their liberty, and who shall be present with 
and assist the diplomacy of Europe in lim- 
iting the power of Russia ; or, as the Pro- 
phet expresses it, in putting '^ hooks into 
the jaws " of ^^ Gog." For so reads the 
text : '^ And men of continuance they shall 
sever, passing through the land, to buiy 
with the passengers those who remain upon 
the face of the earth, to cleanse it." 

Verse 14. "After the end of seven 
months shall they search." The govern- 
ments of Europe shall fully inform them- 
selves of the political relations of Russia to 
all the numerous tribes over which she exer- 
cises government or control. 

Verse 15. "And the passengers that pass 
through the land, when any seeth a man's 
bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till 
the buriers have buried it in the valley of 
Hamon-gog." 

Here is a reference to a custom in the 

14* 



174 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

east of raising a " heap " of stones over the 
grave of a person who had been murdered : 
■when each traveller as he passes lays an 
additional stone upon the " heap." 2 Kings, 
23:17, ^^What is the title, p'^SJn ' Ha- 
tziunj the heap, that I see ? And the men 
of the city told him. It is the sepulchre of 
the man of God, which came from Judah." 

The " passengers," or tribes of Tartary, 
when they shall see a ^^ man's bone," or 
when they shall find other people who like 
themselves have been oppressed by the 
northern tyrant, shall " set up," (margin, 
shall build up,) '^ a sign by it ; " shall repre- 
sent the case of that oppressed people in the 
great council of nations, until their wrongs 
are redressed and they are made free. 

We are here taught to expect as the 
result of this present war, that nation after 
nation, and tribe after tribe, shall be deliv- 
ered from the iron grasp of the Czar of 
Russia, until both civil and religious liberty 
are fully enjoyed by all people, over the 
entire extent of the vast territories at 
present under his sway. 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 175 

The place where this council of nations 
shall sit; is said to be ^^ in the valley of 
Hamon-gog ;" probably the same place as 
^' the valley of the passengers." 

Verse 16. "And also the name of the 
city shall be Hamonah." " Hamonah," 
means " the multitude." Is there any city 
near the Sea of Azof, the name of which, if 
translated, would signify the same as the 
Hebrew " Hamonah ? " 

The sixteenth verse closes nearly the 
same as the fourteenth. The fourteenth 
closes with this sentence : " That they may 
cleanse the land ; " the sixteenth : " Thus 
shall they cleanse the land." 

Similar phrases are found in other parts 
of the prophecy; as chap. 38, v. 16 : " That 
the heathen may know me, when I shall be 
sanctified in thee, Gog, before their eyes." 
Verse 23 : " Thus will I magnify myself, and 
sanctify myself; and I will be known in the 
eyes of many nations, and they shall know 
that I mn the Lord." Again, chap. 39, verse 
6 : " And they shall know that I am the 
Lord." Verse 7: "And the heathen shall 



176 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

know that I am the Lord; the Holy One in 
Israel." Verse 13: ^^And it shall be to 
them a renown, the day that I shall be glori- 
fied; saith the Lord God." Verse 14: " To 
bury with the passengers those that remain 
upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it." 

These expressions are certainly not acci- 
dental, but are designed to show us the 
religious character of this war ; or, perhaps 
we may say with more propriety, the effect 
it shall have upon religion. Russia has 
long boasted of her Christianity, and it is 
now declared by the Czar, as a reason for 
the present war, that he is " combatting for 
the Orthodox Faith,^^ But Jehovah de- 
nounces the religion of Gog, or Russia, to 
be spurious and contaminating; and while 
he engages in a crusade in order to propa- 
gate his errors, " the Most High," who 
'^ ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth 
it to whomsoever he will," will overrule 
his purposes, frustrate his expectations, 
destroy his power, demonstrate his ignor- 
ance, cleanse his land of its demoralizing 
theology and its semi-heathen worship, and 



THE MODERlSr CRUSADE. 177 

introduce therein the true principles of our 
holy Christianity, and the free circulation of 
the Book of God. " Thus shall they cleanse 
the land ; " and, ^^ I shall be sanctified in 
thee, Gog, before their eyes." 

CONCLUSION. 

From this remarkable prophecy, we learn 
that neither Turkey nor Russia shall be 
destroyed. For this the word of Jehovah 
is pledged ; and this the governments of 
Europe avow. 

Of Turkey, the land which '^ Gog " shall 
i]*vade, the Lord God hath said: "They 
shall dwell safely all of them ; the " integ- 
rity " and ^^ independence " of the Turkish 
Empire, is the sole motive for interference 
on the part of both England and France. 

Of Russia, Jehovah says: "I will turn 
thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws." 
And again : " I will turn thee back, and 
leave but a sixth part of thee." Russia will 
not be destroyed, but " turned backJ^ She 
will lose Jive sixths of her possessions, 
because she has taken them unjustly from 



178 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

other nations ; but by her remaining ^^ sixth " ^ 
she will continue an independent nation. 
The Emperor of France has declared: 
" France, in drawing the sword, demands 
nothing for herself ; she wishes 7iothing ; 
she stands in need of nothing. England, 
our cordial and powerful ally, does not 
expect anything either as the reward of her 
concurrence." The Emperor afterwards 
adds : " It is necessary to drive her, Russio^y 
back,^^ The coincidence of expression, as 
used by the Prophet and by the Emperor, is 
^0 remarkable that it must strike everv 
mind. % 

But some may ask, if Turkey is preserved 
in her extent of empire, will not her Mo- 
hammedanism retard, if it does not pre- 
vent altogether, the evangelization of the 
nations under her control ? 

To this we reply : we think the Moham- 
medanism of Turkey will not continue much 
longer ; but however long it may continue, 
in the end it will most certainly be de- 
stroyed. When we speak of the " prese:"va- 
tion of Turkey," we do not mean Moham- 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 179 

medanism, but Turkey in her political char- 
acter, as holding what in diplomatic lan- 
guage is called "the balance of power." 
Turkey thus considered^ and giving to her 
subjects, as she has already done, full liberty 
of conscience, will not only not retard, but 
will materially promote the conversion of 
the world. For in countries purely Moham- 
medan, as well as in countries purely heathen, 
Protestant truth has not those corrupt forms 
of Christianity to contend with, that it has 
in those churches where the Papacy or the 
Greek Church are dominant. When, there- 
fore, all restrictions as to the mode of teach- 
ing Christianity are removed, and the Bible 
and Koran are brought fairly in contact, 
truth will unquestionably prevail; the 
^- Crescent " will rapidly wane as the " Sun 
of Eighteousness " appears orient ; and the 
long deluded devotees of the false prophet 
will receive the light of pure Christianity. 

It is but a very few years since liberty 
began to dawn upon the Turkish Empire, 
and it is only since the present struggle 
commenced, that Christians in that country 



180 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

were placed on equal grounds with their 
Mohammedan fellow-subjects^ yet it is truly 
surprising to see the progress Christian 
truth has made, and the effect it has already 
produced upon the public mind. 

A correspondent at Constantinople has 
made the following statement, which has 
appeared in the " London Christian Times/' 
as well as in several other religious 
periodicals : 

^^ The spread of Bible truth has for the 
last twenty years in Turkey been such that 
it is impossible for me to believe that G-od 
is now about to give his work up to the 
destroyer. 

" A distinguished Christian traveller from 
England, recently put the question to the 
American missionaries here, (Constantino- 
ple,) whether the statement made by Mr, 
Layard in Parliament, that there are more 
than forty towns and villages in Turkey 
in which are Protestant congregations, is 
strictly true. 

^^ This led to the writing down a list of 
names of places, and the cheering fact was 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 181 

established, that in more than fifty towns 
and villages in the empire, there are Prot- 
estant Assemblies for Divine worship on 
every Lord's day. 

^' The largest of these congregations is 
that at " Aintab/* about three days north- 
east from Aleppo ; vrhere there are more 
than seven hundred Protestants : the smallest 
may perhaps not number more than three 
or four souls. 

" But in all these different places, the word 
of God has entered, and souls are found 
who, we may hope, are his spiritual worship- 
pers. And besides these, who have openly 
avowed themselves as Protestants, risking 
all the consequences, there are known to be 
thousafids among the Armenians; in the cap- 
ital and throuo-hout the interior of Turkev, 
who are really Protestant in sentiment, 
though not yet sufBciently moved by reli- 
gious truth to impress them to take an open 
stand for the Gospel, before the world. 

*' Now may we not reasonably hope that 
all this preparation, is to be followed by a 
glorious completion? 

16 



182 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

" Twenty-five years ago^ not a single Prot- 
estant could be found among all the nations 
of tlie land^ and Protestantism^ was either 
wholly unknown, or where known at all, it 
was considered as synonymous with Infidel- 
ity and Atheism. Now there are in Con- 
stantinople and its vicinity, nineteen Prot- 
estant Clergymen, and fourteen Protestant 
schools ; and in the whole empire, there are 
sixty-seven Protestant preachers. 

'^ xind I have another pleasing and encour- 
aging fact to state, which is, that although 
among these there are representatives of 
several different branches of the Protestant 
church, yet so far as I know, without a 
single exception, they are laboring harmo- 
niously for one and the same object. For 
example, at the metropolis, from which I 
write, among the nineteen clergymen men- 
tioned there are Episcopalians, Presbyte- 
rians, Congregationalists and Lutherans, 
and one Waldensian, and yet but one spirit 
seems to pervade them all ; and they often 
come together for prayer and conference in 
regard to the great work in which they are 
engaged." 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 183 

The church has thus achieved a triumph 
in the dominions of the Sultan which the 
most sanguine could not have anticipated. 
She haS; as shewn in the above extract^ in 
a quarter of a century, organized in differ- 
ent places, more than fifty congregations, 
and established fourteen Christian schools 
in Constantinople ; while sixty-seven evange- 
lists are scatterins; the seeds of divine 
truth broadcast over the length and breadth 
of the empire ; and as all this was effected 
before Christianity was even tolerated, and 
therefore at great and constant personal 
danger to those who were engaged in the 
enterprise, what may we soon expect to see 
now that all laws for persecuting Christians 
are revoked, and Christian ministers are 
everywhere allowed to prear^h the Gospel, 
without hindrance or Mussulman inter- 
ference. 

Turkey will not be destroyed or con- 
quered, but converted ; and judging from the- 
" signs of times," her conversion seems nigh. 
But while Turkey, a great Mohammedan 
power has been yielding to the force of right 



184 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

principle and Christian truth; Eussia^ a great 
nominal Christian power has been recreant 
to the spirit of the Gospel; and is decidedly 
antichristian in her practice. She has inter- 
dicted the circulation of the Book of God, 
and banished Christian teachers from her 
land ; she has suppressed all ideas of civil 
and religious liberty among her subjects, 
and has placed them under the ban of per- 
petual ignorance ; and; not satisfied with the 
evil she has done at homC; she has at length 
commenced a crusade to the west, where she 
contemplates first to subdue; and then to in- 
volve the nations in that direction in the 
same tangible moral darknesS; and place 
them under the same despotic rule that she 
has the nations of the south and of the east. 
But her "double-headed eagle" has soared 
high enough; and has flown far enough ; the 
circle of her flight must now be circum- 
scribed: her star has long been in the 
ascendant; but at length it has reached its 
meridian altitude ; it culminates ; it will soon 
descend with fearful velocity, and by the 
concussion it shall sustain it will be broken 



THE MODERN CRUSADE. 185 

in piece S; and a fragment only shall re- 
main. Gog shall thus be humbled; Je- 
hovah will thus be glorified: for he will 
"cleanse the land/' and "not let them 
pollute his holy name any more." 

And while the Colossus of the north 
will lose his hold of the nations, "-The 
house of Togarmah/' so long deceived by 
the blasphemous doctrines of the false 
prophet of Mecca will receive the truth, 
and enlightened thereby, they will cast 
off the Mohammedan yoke. Mohammedan- 
ism itself must perish, for it is written, 
"And the sixth angel poured out his 
vial upon the great river Euphrates ; and 
the water thereof was dried up, that the 
way of the kings of the east might be 
prepared." And at these things the heathen 
shall be astonished, the enemies of truth 
be confounded, the church shall rejoice, 
and the Lord God shall be honored among 
the nations. 

Verse 21. "And I will set my glory 
among the heathen, and all the heathen shall 

15* 



186 THE MODERN CRUSADE. 

see my judgment that I have executed, and 
my hand that I have laid upon them. 

Verse 22. " So the house of Israel shall 
know that I am the Lord their God from 
that day and forward.'* 



APPENDIX. 



The following communication by Rev. Mr. Davis, a Baptist 
clergyman of Yarmouth, N. S., was addressed to the editors of 
the '' Christian Messenger," (Halifax, N. S.,) and was pub- 
lished in that paper of May 4th. And as it contains a full 
analysis of the views expressed in the foregoing work, it is 
here inserted as affording to the reader indubitable evidence 
that these conclusions were not reached by the aid of the 
numerous confirmatory events that Itav.^_ recently transpired, 
but are the result of a careful and criticar''eTa!tTin'ation of the 
38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy in the light of 
previous history. 



Dear Brethren, 

While I write, a telegraphic dispatch announces 
the formal declaration of war against Russia by 
England and France. The dreadful tragedy of the 
East thickens. What will be the end thereof? The 
God of Providence and the head of the church 
knows, and calmly contemplates the working out of 
his own schemes of vengeance and of love. We 
have just had a remarkable lecture delivered among 
us on this subject, by the Rev. Wm. Wilson, our 
Wesieyan minister. He finds this whole contest 
foretold in the prophecy against Gog, Ezek. 38, 39. 
Let me give you his scheme in a few words. 



188 APPENDIX. 

I. Here are the invaders in this war, 

Ch. 38, 2. All my references will be to this 
chapter, unless notice be given to the contiarj. 
Bishop Newcome thus renders the verse before us : — - 
*' Son of man, set thy face against Gog of the land 
of Magog, prince of Rhos, Mesech and Jubal, and 
prophecy against him." Here we have according to 
our lecturer, the ancient Scythians and modern 
Russians, Muscovites, and people of Tabolski. 
These are the invaders. 

II. The INVASION. 

It is upon " the house of Togarmah oi the north 
quarter/' Here we have the ancient Turcoman!, 
and the modern Turks ; particularly the Turks set- 
tled in Europe. True, according to the pointing of 
our version, we have Togarmah associated with 
Meshech and Tubal. But this is thought to be an 
error. Place the period at the end of v. 4, and you 
have the pointing of the Hebrew, and it is thought, 
the true pointing, distinguishing between the Rus- 
sians spoken of v. 1-4, and Turkey and her allies, 
spoken of v. 5, 6. Of these allies more hereafter. 

But this invasion, after all, is said more especially 
to be ''against the mountains of Israel — my people 
of Israel — the land of Israel.'' Well, does not Tur- 
key hold Palestine ? Would not Russia like to 
grasp it ? Has there not in fact been much said 
about this very land, and about Jerusalem, in past 



APPENDIX. 189 

negotiations between Turkey and Eussia ? Besides, 
may we not take Israel here in a large spiritual 
sense ; a sense common in tbe Bible, and not uncom- 
mon in Ezekiel ? And does not the Czar lust and 
burn to intermeddle with the progress of Protestant 
Missions in Turkey and the East ? Is not this very 
warfare set on foot just as much for the purposes of 
spiritual despotism as for any other ? Surely the 
true Israel, Israel after the Spirit, is largely interested 
here. Let the Czar triumph, and what would be- 
come of liberty, of Christian Missions, of the pros- 
pects of the Jews for their return to their own land ? 
for which last event many good people are looking, 
and the problem respecting which will perhaps be 
solved ere long. Considerations like these serve to 
give probability to the extended interpretation of the 
word Israel in the case before us, for which our lec- 
turer contended. 

The time of the invasion is indicated v. 8, by the 
phrase "the latter years;" and again, v. 16, "the 
latter days f^ which years and dayr seem not yet to 
have arrived, unless we are even now upon them. 

The mamier of the invasion is marked v. 10, 11. 
Could anything be more striking? Whence comes 
this war, but from the " mischievous purpose" (marg. 
V. 10.) of Nicholas? And did he not begin it by 
stealing across the Pruth when no one was prepared 
for it, as though he thought he had nothing to do but 



190 APPENDIX. 

to *^ spoil the spoil, and to prey the prey?'' (marg. 
V. 12.) In V. 8, 12, the Lecturer pointed out many 
coincidences between the land spoken of by the 
prophet and Turkey, which I cannot pretend to de- 
tail, but which all went marvellously to strengthen 
his position. 

III. The MOTIVES of the invasion. 

These have been hinted at, but must be more dis- 
tinctly noted. They are avowedly religious. And 
really so, as we have just seen ; though certainly in 
no good sense. But they are pre-eminently ambitious. 
Are they not 'described, v. 13? Please turn to it. 
Here, if I remember rightly, Sheba represents Egypt; 
Dedan, in a large sense, to be explained just now, 
Persia. And " the merchants of Tarshish,'' or ** the 
traders on the sea," the rendering of the Chaldee, as 
bishop Newcome tells us, what are these merchants, 
but the British? As to the "young lions," what 
are they but the lions of England borne aloft in her 
standard ? And as to the expostulation contained in 
this verse, what can come nearer to it than Lord 
Clarendon in the house of Lords, that Russia wanted 
Walachia, Moldavia, Constantinople, and that here 
lay the true motive of her onslaught. 

TV, The HELPERS of Turkey. 

These we find v. 5, 6. Take Persia in a wide 
sense, for the ancient Persian empire, extending 
** from India even to Ethiopia," and you include 



APPENDIX. 191 

Asia Minor, or the modern Turkey in x\sia. Ethi- 
opia is Egypt. Libya includes the new French 
colony of Algeria. These all help in this great con- 
flict. But the bands of Gomer are the great helpers. 
And what aie these ? Why Gomer is the ancestor 
both of England and of Frp,nce. What further ex- 
position is needed ? 

V. The CONFLICT. 

This is to be beyond measure awful. We have 
seen only skirmishing compared with what is to come. 
Listen to our prophet, v. 19, 20. Sir Charles 
Napier, when about to take charge of the Baltic 
fleet intimated the solemnity of the position in which 
he felt himself placed. All that we know about the 
movements of the belligerent powers, and about the 
position of the European powers who as yet stand 
aloof from the conflict, leads us to look for nothing 
but ** terrible things in righteousness." 

VI. The RESULT. 

Gog shall be utterly overthrown, v. 4. ch. 39. 
2-4. W^here? In *' the valley of the passengers on 
the east of the sea." And where is this? There 
is the great valley down which flow the Don and 
Volga, down which Russia marches her troops to the 
scene of the present conflict, the grand passage way 
of Russia — EASTWARD of the Black Sea. Driven 
back from the Danube, Russia may retreat to this 
valley ; there make her final stand, and sustain her 



192 APPENDIX. 

decisive defeat. And then may be fulfilled the 
prophecy of ch. 39. 11-20. The consequence will 
be, not that Russia shall be dismembered, but that 
she shall be made to disgorge the prey of former 
years, and be reduced within much smaller limits 
than she now occupies. , Does ch. 39, 2, pomt to 
this? Thus Israel shall be delivered, and Christian 
Missions to the East be relieved from the dread of 
Russian intrigues, and Russian violence. If the 
Jews are indeed to be restored to Palestine, may not 
their pathway be thus opened? What means ch. 
39, 23-29 ? And may we not thus be brought, 
not only by the course of time, but by the progress 
of events, nearer than ever to the bringing in of the 
remnant of the Jews with the fulness of the Gentiles? 

Such in effect are the speculations of brother 
Wilson. He may give them to us in a permanent 
form. Meanwhile you have here a bird's-eye view 
of them. He does not mean to dogmatize : he only 
presents his thoughts for the reflections of others. 
Time will very soon test the soundness of his expo- 
sitions. 

Need I now ask pardon ? I think not, though I 

have written at much greater length than I dreamt 
of doing when I began my epistle. 

Yery truly yours, 

J. Davis. 
Yarmouth, April 15, 1854. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 



'^ 



'1 



